RUWASSA commends UNICEF over Bauchi LG, others attaining open defecation-free status

By: Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been commended for playing the lead role in ensuring that Bauchi Local Government Area was added to the LGAs that have been certified and declared open defecation free (ODF), in the State.

The commendation was made by the General Manager of Bauchi State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA), Adamu Sabo who was speaking to a team of Journalists who were assessing the impact of the ODF status in the local government.

He said that, “UNICEF really played a very important role in this process. I mean, the role they played was supporting us with funding. Training our structures, even at the state and at the local government levels, we have series of training from the UNICEF. And they do support us. All that is needed to have the process successfully done including the state government.”

According to him, the feat though a tough one considering the metropolitan nature of the LGA, was achieved through a collective and collaborative efforts by all WASH stakeholders in the State.

Adamu Sabo said that currently Bauchi local government is the 9th local government that has been officially declared ODF with three more local government areas waiting.

According to him, the whole process started through community mobilization to stakeholders such as community and religious leaders, leadership of the local government as well as advocacy visits to relevant stakeholders in the communities.

The GM stated that, “We had engagements with all the 1,400 communities in the state where we educated them on the dangers of open defecation. We now took a collective decision to stop open defecation through the construction of improved latrine.”

He also stated that, “Apart from the sensitization of stakeholders, we recorded success at the local and community levels. At the local government level, we have the WASH unit where we have principal officers that usually go for the implementation activities and community mobilization. At the community level, we also have the WASHCOM, the local hygiene promoters, these are structures that drive the entire process at the community level.”

“Again, there is also the aspect of the toilet business owners (TBOs) who were trained on how to construct improved toilets in the communities. We realized that the construction of latrines in the past had a lot of challenges, particularly in the rainy season where the toilets usually collapse,”he added.

Adamu Sabo added that,”To solve this challenge, we identified micro financial institutions who give soft loans to construct improved latrines through the Toilet Business Owners who are trained to construct improved latrines in households.”

He said that another area put in place by the Agency to sustain the ODF status is constant monitoring through the WASH unit who gives updated reports about the successes as well as the challenges with the latrines and all other areas of WASH in the communities.

He then expressed determination of RUWASA to ensure sustainability of the certification and declaration of Bauchi LGA as Open Defecation Free (ODF) status.

Also speaking in the same vein, the District Head of Miri, a large Community in Bauchi LGA, Mallam Hussaini Abubakar Othman, attributed the success of the local government becoming ODF to the continuous sensitization of citizens on the dangers of open defecation.

According to him, “Traditional rulers are one of the most powerful influencers in the community, they influence the decision of their subjects to a large extent based on trust and respect.”

The Traditional Ruler stressed that, “At the community level, we hold meetings with heads of households where we educate them to prevail on their households against open defecation.This really worked, because we saw the changes.”

Husseini Abubakar assured that, “On Sustainability, we will continue with the sensitization of the people as we have always done and work with all the relevant stakeholders and partners in this whole process to ensure that the success is maintained.”

He too commended Bauchi Field Office of UNICEF for the impactful engagements and trainings of the trad institution on healthy living which has created awareness of well-being.