A WASH campaign is launched in Plateau State for a healthy environment and good drinking water by Water Aid Nigeria

By Joseph A. Adudu

The water Aid Nigeria has launched a ‘wash campaign’ in Jos, the plateau state capital and by extension, the 17 Local government areas. Several speakers spoke on the need to keep our environment clean during the event. In the address of his excellency Rt Hon Simon Bako Lalong who was represented at the occasion by the commissioner for water resources Hon Sadiq Abubakar Bella, said it was a great pleasure that he graced the occasion which sought to fashion out modalities to improve water supply, sanitation and hygiene status of the people of plateau state.

The governor further expressed his appreciation and commended the European Union (EU) project in plateau state. He said the project has two key components, one of which is the rural component being implemented by UNICEF in Riyom, Shendam and Kanke LGA’S, while the second components is the urban small Towns in Riyom and and Shendam under the urban and small towns component the intervention focuses reform in the three areas of water sanitation and hygiene (WASH.) The Governor said that the plateau State government in collaboration with the EU water supply and sanitation sector reform program (EU WSSSRP 111) and the civil society organizations in the last four years have achieved success in the provision of water and sanitation policy, including the water sector law that will soon be gazetted. Lalong said his administration has paid it counterparts funding to the European Union intervention to the tune of over five hundred million naira (500,000,000:00) as we speak now the installation of facilities in the small towns of Riyom and Shendam LGA’S is on going and will very soon be commissioned for use.

Lalong also said to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations to drive WASH governance in plateau state to which CSO’s have demonstrated capacity by supporting the passage of the water sector Bill into law by the 8th assembly, as to support the WASH institution in plateau state to fulfill their mandate in the plateau state water and sanitation policy of 2018, and also the government will support the LGA’S through WASH department and communities to have a mechanism for feedback and complaints from communities on water supply and sanitation status

In his goodwill massage, the Emire of WASE, commended the WASH campaign and promise to support the initiative because good water can only be gotten if the environment is clean, and without clean environment and sanitation you can’t get good drinking water and he also talk about the need to stop open defecation, and call on the public the stop such habits for us to have a good and clean environment as he said cleanliness is next to Godliness.

The country director water Aid Nigeria at the launch of the keep your promise campaign in plateau state Chichi Aniagolu Okoye which was delivered by Idowu EU-TAC project consultant water Aid Nigeria said he would as excited to be at the formal launch of the keep your promise campaign he said this marks the beginning of a four years electoral advocacy campaign and which aims to amplify the voices of the citizens to demand for transparent and accountable governance and influence reforms in the in the water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector he said it their hopes that this close engagement with the elected officials will help translate their commitment for improved WASH service to realistic and sustainable action.

He said water Aid commends the efforts of the government and all the stakeholders so far in addressing the challenges of water sanitation and hygiene in plateau state, according to the 2018 WASH NORM-NBS in plateau only 44% have access to improved water sources and 34.5% have improved sanitation, this still leaves a gap of 2.3 million people that do not have access to water while 2.8 million lack decent toilets, this also affects schools and healthcare centre, in 2018 the Nigeria Bureau of statistics (NBS) estimated that within the past 6 weeks 19.9% of households in plateau state suffered a diarrhea diseases at this rate attaining the sustainable development Goal 6 targets on water sanitation and hygiene by 2030 will be an enormous challenge if change steps aren’t taken with very deliberate and intensified measures to address the issue.

As part of the efforts taken by water Aid Nigeria and her partners implemented a citizens engagement project tagged Vote 4 WASH campaign which focused on the leveraging on the 2019 general elections to educate and empower citizens to effectively demand for the actualization of their WASH rights from duty bearers, the campaign was a success with 29 signed pledge cards from electoral aspirants in plateau state, it is however important to build on these commitments and sustain the momentum by having an articulated plan to follow up on these commitments till they are actualized

Participant at the occsssion

According to him sustainable development is impossible without responsive governance and institutions that can be held accountable to deliver on their roles and responsibilities, this is what we hope to do with the keep your promise campaign which is the second phase of our electoral advocacy, we seek to empower citizens in plateau state and the media to use various accountability platforms to engage elected officials to keep their promises and commitments to providing improved WASH services throughout plateau state.

The WASH campaign also presented certificate to the plateau state governors and also awarded some critical stakeholders and members of house of assembly and also the National Assembly members like SEN ID Gyang, Hon Musa D Bagos, Hon Komsol Longgap.