Riyom LG in Plateau to Set up Task-Force to Check open defecation
The Riyom Local Government Area (LGA) in Plateau is to constitute a task force to curb the menace of open defecation in the area.
The local government chairman, Mr Emmanuel Jugul, disclosed this on Wednesday in Lo-Gwom community in Kwi, during the official commissioning of a solar powered water scheme and school sanitation facility sponsored by the EU and UNICEF.
He said that the taskforce when constituted, would ensure that people comply with the order to reduce to the barest the incidence of open defecation in the LGA.
Jugul reassured the sponsors of the project, that the project would be protected, maintained and sustained to ensure that it serves the community optimally.
Similarly, the paramount ruler and the Atar-Aten of Ganawuri , Yakubu Chai-Mang, in his address, disclosed that the various traditional rulers in the state would tcollaborating with the state government to end open defecation.
He revealed that the traditional rulers would ensure that houses without latrines or toilets in the various communities and villages would be charged to court.
The traditional ruler thanked the sponsors for the project, saying that it would go a long way in reducing the incidence of water borne diseases and the stress involved in accessing potable water in the community.
Ambassador Ketil Karlsen, the delegation Head of the EU to Nigeria and ECOWAS, in his address called on the community to ensure that the project was sustained as it would help reduce the incidence of water borne diseases to the bearest minimum.
Karisen said that the investment in human capital was fundamentally important and this project was one of such ways in investing in human capital.
Also speaking, Mr Peter Hawkins, the UNICEF representative in Nigeria, tasked the people of the community to protect the project by ensuring its maintenance not just for themselves but for their children.
Hawkins urged them to find local solutions to ensuring that they had latrines and that they should inculcate the habit hand washing.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the community of 3,025 persons before the commissioning of the project, depended on one open dug well and streams as their source of water.
(NAN)
