Michael Onwuka, Enugu.
Enugu State Government has trained 35 persons as members of the State Task Group on Sanitation, STGS, Special Adviser on Water Resources to Enugu State Governor, Anthony Onyia has said.
Onyia disclosed this on Saturday in Enugu during the inauguration of the STGS.
The Special Adviser said that the training and inauguration of the group were parts of deliberate efforts to make the state Open Defecation Free, ODF.
He commended the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, for putting up the initiative which he said had continued to revive institutions, structures and infrastructure in the state.
He said that the initiative had triggered the campaign to get all the communities in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of the state certified ODF.
“Igbo-Etiti has been delineated into 306 Community Led Total Sanitation, CLTS, cluster communities aimed at changing the behaviour of residents defecating in the open and encourage toilet uptake,” he said.
Onyia said that the State Government would not rest until all the local councils achieved open defecation free status.
Similarly, the Independent Resource Person, UNICEF, Enugu Field Office, Mr Samuel Itodo, said that the organisation was supporting the state to be ODF.
Itodo said that UNICEF had supported the pilot phase of the initiative in Igbo-Etiti with advocacy, institutional capacity, assessment, baseline and planning at different levels.
He said that some communities had made good progress since the intervention started in 2021, adding that they were expecting the next level of verification and certification.
“UNICEF has facilitated the inauguration of this STGS with the support of the state government,” he said.
According to him, members of the STGS were drawn from different government agencies and Non-governmental Organisations and have the capacity to verify the communities with the checklist in the national protocol.
“For now, UNICEF is supporting Igbo-Etiti to achieve ODF status. UNICEF is driving the ideology with technical support for the government to replicate in the rest of the councils.
“We see Igbo-Etiti as an advocacy council to become open defecation free in Enugu and we would like to see the state government come on board to scale up in other councils,” he said.
Itodo said that the result of UNICEF’s intervention in the council was already being felt.
“The data coming out shows that there is a reduction in cholera, typhoid and all water and sanitation related diseases. The environment is becoming more friendly.
“You can see the number of persons practicing safe hygiene, washing their hands with soap and water. You no longer feel foul smell as it used to be and the people are becoming healthier,” Itodo said.
