FCT targets 2030 to end open defecation – RUWASSA

On Apr 28, 2023

The Rural Water and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA), has said that it is targeting the year 2030, to end open defecation in the Federal Capital Territory by taking on the fight against the endemic practice.

According to the Head of Department, Planning Partnership, Monitoring, and Evaluation, FCT RUWASSA, Danladi katamkpe, stated that “We are going to fight against open defecation. Even in the FCT, they still practice open defecation. We have chosen Kwali as our pilot area and our target is to end open defecation by 2030”.

The agency also disclosed that it had provided 62 hand pumps to critical areas where there is water scarcity, especially during the 2021 cholera outbreak, and later, provided another 53 hand pumps and 6 solar-powered boreholes.

Katamkpe further noted that “When we provide facilities in communities, we establish what we call WASHCOM, within the community, they give us members of the community and we train them. They are called VILOM, (Village level operation and maintenance). We teach artisans within the community and they maintain the facilities. When they can’t handle it, they report to us.”

While charging the FCT indigenes to take advantage of the free health insurance scheme provided by the Federal Capital Health Insurance, Folake Folarin, who is the Zonal Coordinator, said that AMAC had enrolled over 6,000 free health insurance beneficiaries. And in the FCT, about 20,000 had been reached through the churches, the Mosques, and the palaces.

she said “I know so many of these Hakimi’s I have been to their palaces before, in fact, the government has paid for these services. Like this month now, they have paid and by the first week of May, it may be paid again. So whether they go or not the services have been paid for. So, we implore the community to make use of it. Once they are enrolled, they can go ahead to access the services, instead of going to places to buy drugs because the government has already paid for it,” Folarin stated.

Speaking on education, Deputy Director of School Health and HIV Matters in the FCT, Solomon Johnson, maintained that the FCT education directorate is aware of the situation but that the issue has been prolonged due to lack of funds and the increasing population of the FCT is growing, with people trooping into the FCT on a daily basis. He complained that they are overstretching the infrastructure.

In his words “We have the FCT Scholarship board for the original indigenes of the FCT. Like I said, the government is making efforts, but because of the population, people may not see it. Also, renovations are done every year. There are provisions for other things, and measures are also taken every year to tackle these educational challenges,” Johnson said.

Speaking on behalf of the organisers, the Executive Director, HipCity Innovation, Bassey Bassey, said that the aim of the town hall meeting is to give the people a sense of belonging, bridge communication gaps between the people and those that have been elected or appointed into government offices to serve them as it relates to service delivery.

Wumi/Punch