By Francis Ogwo
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has inaugurated a steering committee “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign” as the country expands access to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities as effective tools in fighting against infections diseases.
This is coming on the heels of an intensified fight by stakeholders against the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The event was attended by members of the committee drawn from the Federal Executive Council, States, Local Government areas, Civil society and the organised Private sector.
In his speech, the Vice President, Professor Osinbajo said: “We are embarking upon this initiative at a most auspicious time. As our nation confronts the Covid-19 pandemic, we recognise that expanding access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities is our most effective weapon against the scourge of infectious diseases.
“Ensuring the provision of adequate WASH facilities in our communities is the cornerstone of our efforts to strengthen the resilience of our public health structures beyond the present challenge of Covid-19. This is the basis of our commitment to ending open defecation and more broadly, to raising the standards in the WASH sector.”
The Vice President also gave a report of the adoption and implementation of the national road map for WASH in 2016, saying more local government areas across the country have so far, been certified as open defecation free according to the National Open Defecation Free (ODF) protocol.
Osinbajo noted that “the key objectives of this effort include the implementation of a campaign to end open defecation in Nigeria by 2025.
“This will involve mobilising support and resources at the highest political level and within the private sector, the communities, and from development partners.”
In his further remarks on the benefit of the campaign on proper sanitation and hygiene in Nigeria, Professor Osinbajo said, “It will create a pool of resource persons to support local actors to implement this nationwide transformational sanitation agenda.
“The campaign will mobilise various strata of the society to imbibe a new culture of safe sanitation through behavioural change communication and advocacy strategies; we will also establish mechanisms for tracking progress and sharing knowledge and lessons learnt.”
The Vice President also read out the terms of reference for the steering committee, and said the group would have bi-annual meetings to strategize on the implementation of the Clean Nigeria Campaign among other salient issues.
He said: “The committee will oversee and advise on the implementation and strategic orientation proposed by the Clean Nigeria Secretariat to execute the campaign.”
According to the terms, the committee will work towards ensuring good working relationship between the Clean Nigeria Secretariat and other relevant government agencies including security and law enforcement agencies and stakeholders in a view to achieving the campaign objectives.
The committee is also expected to facilitate access of the Clean Nigeria Secretariat to technical and financial resources for effective implementation of the campaign, receive and review progress reports of the implementation of the campaign, and ensure that results of the campaign monitoring outcomes are well communicated to all stakeholders.
The Vice President also applauded the Federal Ministry of Water Resources in their efforts at achieving the campaign objectives as approved by the Federal Executive Council, and in line with the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) for Water and Sanitization.
The event was chaired by the Vice President with members of the committee including, the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Mr. Kayode Fayemi Chairman; Senate Committee on Water Resources, Sen. Bello Mandiya and Chairman, House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli.
Other members of the committee are the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan; the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu; Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed; Minister of Agriculture & Rural Development, Mr. Sabo Nanono; Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire; and Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Paulen Tallen.
