By Suzan Edeh
The Chairperson of Bauchi Local government, Hon Mahmood Babamaji has explained how the local government achieved the status of becoming open defecation free, saying that commitment and hard work of stakeholders in the local government area made it happen.
Mahmoud Baba Maji who was speaking to a team of journalists in his office, supported by the UNICEF Bauchi Field office to ascertain the impact of the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status in the LGA, said that the journey of the local government being certified as Open Defecation Free started during his first tenure as Chairperson of the LGA, adding that as of that time, the local government was challenged with the issue of Open defecation.
He said that the local government faced the challenge of ODF headlong knowing the risk it poses, particularly in the outbreak of diseases in the LGA.
"We started by giving priority to our WASH unit by injecting more funds into the unit. We also identified public areas such as markets, motor parks and other public areas and further adopted a model where we sensitize the people on the dangers of open defecation.This helped a great deal because people did not know the consequences of defecating openly.
"We also worked closely with stakeholders in terms of improving stakeholders engagement.We had engagement with traditional and religious rulers, Hamlet heads to ensure that they are properly educated on open defecation.We also partnered with donor agencies who helped the local government in achieving the status of ODF.We put a lot of efforts in monitoring and supervision to ensure that people are adequately informed.
"In terms of the sustainability plan, the local government went through the validation process which was part of the structures we had put in place.The validation came at a time when I was not the chairman of the LGA, but we were at the background following the whole process closely and luckily the LGA has been certified ODF."
The Chairperson said that his administration adopted a strategic sustainability framework which include improving the funding for the WASH Unit in the area of logistics and supervision, working on WASH policy formulation, system strengthening, reviewing of existing laws for the punishment of offenders and improving stakeholders engagements through the media.
He stated that Bauchi local government is among the four LGA that was recently awarded a $2.5 million Sanitation, Hygiene grant courtesy of WaterAid Nigeria, adding that this is also among the sustainability plan for maintaining an ODF status of the LGA.
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