USAID donates water and sanitation facility to Abuja Community
Mnena Iyorkegh, Abuja
The US Embassy in Nigeria has commissioned a public sanitation Centre at Kwali market, a suburb of the FCT.
The project funded by the USAID programme EWASH and implemented by the foundation for community health, Rights and development organization is aimed at improving water and sanitation services in rural communities.
The US Ambassador to Nigeria Mary Beth Leonard said that with the WASH programme, community health and economic stability will be strengthened.
“This programme is unique as it allows our Embassy to impact communities directly and see tangible results within a short period of time as we are witnessing here in Kwali. It also allows the community to take charge by determining and prioritizing its needs and implementing the project itself as you have done. Where there’s a will, there’s a way: the people of your community had the will, and the people of the United States had the pleasure to provide the way”.
While access to improved water at the national level increased, access to piped water in urban areas declined and access to improved sanitation also decreased.
These limitations, however affects the citizens of Nigeria’s health and access to education and economic opportunities.
To this Ambassador Leonard, said the US Government will continue in its effort towards improving sanitation and hygiene services in Nigeria.
The United States is committed to improving water and sanitation through the US Agency for International Development. USAID has signed a ten million US Dollar grant to UNICEF that will support a government initiative to improve WASH services for more than 300,000 people in Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara States.
She added that USAID’s “assistance will help a build community centered approaches to deliver, operate and manage sustainable WASH services in rural areas to strengthen community health and economic stability, and help rebuild needed infrastructure and support community efforts to increase access to proper sanitation, adopt proper hygiene behaviours, and improve water quality. USAID also helps six states improve administration of their state water agencies through the sixty million dollar Effective Water and Sanitation Services (E-WASH)”
The Executive, The Foundation For Community Health, Rights And Development Organization, Dr Taiwo Bension, who is the facilitator of the project, noted that his organization will ensure the sustainability of the facility for generations of people who patronize Kwali market where the public sanitation Centre is located.
With the assistance of your grant, we organized stakeholders dialogue on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services in Kwali Area Council and constructed a borehole with a water tank and 12 gender sensitive improved toilets with separate blocks for male and females which have hand washing facilities including water stations. Our organization also facilitated the formation of a WASH Committee in Kwali Market that will be responsible for coordinating environmental sanitation in the market and will support the organization in monitoring the utilization of the toilet facility.
The Chairman Kwali Area Council, the benefiting community and suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) , Mr. Danladi Chiya, while commending the gesture, solicited for more support from the US Government “this Water, Sanitation and Hygiene facility constructed by FOCHRID with the United States’ support is a welcome development to the Area Council as it further strengthens government’s efforts to eradicating open defecation and ensuring healthy environment, especially for marketers who bear a burden of economic development. we want to sincerely express our profound appreciation to FOCHRID for selecting Kwali Area Council for this WASH project, and to commend US Government for their continuous value added support to development”.
Adding that “I want to use this opportunity to kindly request the United States Government intervention is areas that areas that are of most concern to the Area Council which are : education, women empowerment in agriculture, and community health services such as construction of healthcare centers and medical provisions for people terminal diseases in hard to reach areas.
The US government remains a strong partner to Nigeria in different sectors of the nation’s economy which includes oil and gas, education, security and health.
E-WASH programme works to improve the availability of clean water and sanitation in Nigeria’s vulnerable urban neighborhoods.
