Godwin Akor, Makurdi
Late last year, Governor Samuel Ortom declared state of emergency in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH, sector and launched the ‘Clean Benue, Use The Toilet’ Campaign at the new banquet hall of Government House, Makurdi.
At the event, the governor gave marching orders to local government chairmen, heads of ministries and extra ministerial departments, heads of various educational institutions, religious leaders, traditional rulers, civil servants, officials of road transport workers, heads of non-governmental organisations, traders unions as well as youth organisations, students unions and labour leaders across the state to massively mobilise the people towards embracing the use of toilets and making Benue open defecation free by 2025.
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Ortom’s directive on the occasion of the launch of the campaign against open defecation was in line with the Executive Order 009 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari.in 2019. Ortom, who was represented at the event by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sunday Ongbabo, said it was mandatory for the entire citizenry to key into the programme of stopping open defecation by 2025. He also urged foreign partners to intensify efforts towards contributing their quota to the success of the campaign against open defecation and assured that his administration would continue to give priority to the release of counterpart funds for programmes being implemented in collaboration with international organisations.
Ortom commended the United Nations International Children’s Education Fund, UNICEF; Water Aid, World Health Organisation, WHO; U K Aid, United Purpose, other partners as well as relevant Benue State government agencies for ensuring that Ogbadibo, Logo and Gwer-East local government areas become open defecation free and called on the other 20 local government areas to work assiduously towards embracing the water, sanitation and hygiene programme with a view to becoming open defecation-free by 2025.
The governor’s wife, Dr. ( Mrs.) Eunice Erdoo Ortom, who is a WASH Ambassador, called on Benue women to embrace the campaign against open defecation and convey the message of making Benue open defecation free by 2025 to the nooks and crannies of the state. Represented by the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Tabitha Girgir, the founder and initiator of the non governmental organisation, known as Eunice Spring of Life Foundation, ESLF, promised to use her organisation’s health programmes to promote WASH and take the message of making Benue open defecation free by 2025 to the over 200 wards in the state.
The WASH Ambassador urged the women to occupy drivers’ seats in the campaign against open defecation and ensure that their children, husbands and relations make 2025 the year of making Benue attain open defecation-free status.
A major player in the fight against open defecation in Benue State, UNICEF, disclosed at the launch of the campaign that about three million people in the state defecate in the open. Mamita Bora Thakkar, who represented UNICEF at the event, said Benue was on its way to becoming the first open defecation-free state in Nigeria, considering the attainment of free status attained by three of the 23 local governments and the efforts being made by five other local governments to attain the same status in the near future. She said UNICEF had been in Benue for over two decades and commended the state for partnering with the organisation.
She further commended Governor Ortom and his wife for declaring state of emergency in the WASH sector and becoming WASH Ambassador, respectively and observed that the launch of the campaign against open defecation in Benue State was in tune with the Executive Order signed by President Muhammadu Buhari who had earlier declared state of emergency in the WASH Sector.
The UNICEF WASH Manager said Buhari’s actions towards making Nigeria open defecation-free was similar to what the prime minister of India did to make India open defecation-free within few years and advised that the Benue State government should work closely with donor agencies so as to achieve its target in 2025. She expressed UNICEF’s commitment to the success of the campaign against open defecation and urged Nigeria to emulate India’s example by ensuring that the citizens massively participate in the campaign.
Mamita Thakkar, who said she was impressed that traditional rulers and other stakeholders graced the launch of the campaign, suggested that members of the society should all be bearers of the message ‘Clean Benue, Use The Toilet’ so that the campaign would have impact in all the nooks and crannies of the state.She noted that diseases like cholera, diarrhea, whooping cough, poliomyelitis and so on were caused by water contaminated through defecation in the streams, ponds, bushes around the house, markets and other public places and advocated that community as well as religious leaders should be involved in the campaign against open defecation.
The WASH expert said the campaign needs collective approach through actions, insisting that example of protype toilets should be provided in the rural areas so that the people would follow. She suggested that communities and local governments as well as states and government officials that fast rack the open defecation-free status processes should be rewarded from time to time to serve as encouragement and source of competition among the various communities and sectors.
She expressed the hope that Nigeria would definitely attain the open defecation-free status, stressing that Benue was already making serious efforts towards becoming the first sate. She added that she was not in doubt about Benue’s commitment to the success of the campaign because Governor Ortom, on the day of the launch of the campaign, inaugurated a steering committee with himself being as the chairman.
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Minister of Water Resources, Engr Suleiman Adamu, and his Benue counterpart, Engr Dondo Ahire, in their separate speeches at the event, expressed the commitment of government at the two levels to the success of the campaign against open defecation. They added that the 2025 date remained sacrosanct. They rated Benue State highly in the WASH Sector, noting that the state accounted for three of the 16 local governments out of the country’s 774 local government areas that have become open defecation-free.
General Manager of Benue Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, BERWASSA, Mrs. Torkwase Ikyator, had in a welcome address at the event said disclosed that Benue had sunk over 300 boreholes and rehabilitated many water schemes in the rural areas and assured that her agency would continue to collaborate with partners and other government agencies to achieve the target of making Benue open defecation-free in 2025.