A task force was recently inaugurated by the FCTA to ‘wholeheartedly’ implement FCT’s sanitation policies, AWAAL GATA reports
It has been widely speculated that residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) don’t heed to sanitation laws. In the same vein, the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), which is infamous for arresting beggars, street hawkers and sex workers, don’t do much in terms of compelling them to sanitise their environments.
This has been the cause of the lack of hygiene in some parts of the territory, especially in the satellite towns.
Speaking to our correspondent about the menace recently, Dr. Tajudeen Ibrahim, an environmentalist, said: “Abuja’s city centre as well as satellite towns should be the cleanest place in Nigeria, but sanitation laws are not being enforced in the territory, so some parts of the city, especially the satellite areas, are dirty
AEPB should have been compelling people to come out of their houses to sanitise their environments weekly or fortnightly but even as the laws are in existence, people don’t heed.”
At the backdrop of this, the FCTA introduced the WASH programme, which is aimed at promoting hygiene in the territory.
However, the Minister of State for FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, recently inaugurated the FCT Sanitation Task Group, which is to serve as a coordinating platform for the implementation of the programme.
Speaking at the event, the Minister said WASH services make a major difference particularly in health, education and socio-economic development, as they prevent diseases and save lives.
She said 5000 children die every day due to infectious diarrhea, which is caused primarily by poor sanitation and hygiene, hence the group will work towards curbing it the FCT.
She added that the impact of using basic sanitation, safe drinking water, and improved hygiene practices extends beyond the convenience of simply having facilities.
Represented at the occasion by the Senior Special Assistant on Administration, Mrs. Jumai Kwanashie, the minister noted that the FCT is experiencing WASH challenges in communities, schools and in public places leading to health challenges and economic losses.
Akinjide, who said the present sanitary situation in the territory “is unacceptable”, acknowledged that local communities in the territory still lack access to potable water, safe sanitation and proper hygiene education.
“This group shall analyse and promote policies, programmes and projects that will specifically trigger the implementation of community and school-led total sanitation. We expect that this group will work with relevant stakeholders in the FCT, and nationally to ensure the achievement of Goal 7 of the Millennium Development Goals. (MDGs), that is, ensuring environmental sustainability,” the Minister said.
She, however expressed the hope that the sort of advocacy in which the group will engage the residents would curb this global crisis, noting that over 2.6 billion people lack access to basic latrine, and nearly 900 million people are thirsty daily because they lack access to potable water.
The group, she said, is mandated to develop a standalone FCT Water Sanitation Policy and its implementation guidelines, raise awareness on water sanitation and hygiene, coordinate sanitation delivery at FCT level, monitor programme implementation and advocate for effective sanitation delivery in the FCT.
In his response, the chairman of the group, Tukur Bakori, who is the Director of Satellite Towns Development Agency (STDA), pledged the group’s determination to deliver its mandates.
According to him, “the group will swing to action very soon, and the sanitation or hygiene problems in the FCT will be a thing of the past.”
