Segun Babatunde, Gombe
Under the Accelerating Sanitation and Water for All (ASWA II) project undertaken by the Nigeria Government with funding from Government of the Netherland in partnership with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria Country office, a total of 997,000 people have been reached with safe drinking water.
The feat was achieved in six Local Government Areas of Adamawa, Borno, Yobe states under ASWA II project where the people were provided with Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities particularly, safe drinking water in the areas.
Our Correspondent reports that there are Eight Beneficiary Countries of the project including Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire; Burkina Faso; Mali; Niger; Mozambique; Somalia; and Tanzania.
The disclosure was made during a Programme Endline Validation and Local Investment Plan Development Meeting held at the Conference Hall of Emerald Hotels, Gombe between 21st – 23rd of March, 2023.
The programme was implemented for 5 years (2019 – 2023) with benefiting LGAs to include Jada and Guyuk in Adamawa state, Biu and Meigumeri in Borno State as well as Fune and Geidam Yobe state.
The implementing Partners of the project are Government of Nigeria through the State Government and the Local Government Authorities.
The purpose of the Meeting was that as the programme comes to an end, the meeting was organised to review the achievements of the programme, validate the endline survey and impact assessment and develop strategies to sustain the gains of the programme through a local investment and sustainability plan.
People in the target LGAs were provided with safe drinking water just as 880,000 people stopped defecating in the open and are now using a safe and hygienic toilet facility.
Furthermore, a total of 500 new water facilities were constructed and 1,000 broken-down facilities were rehabilitated just as 54 schools and 38 healthcare facilities were provided with basic water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities.
Three local government areas of Biu, Guyuk and Jada were declared open defecation free (ODF) by the National Task Group on Sanitation (NTGS) during the project implementation period.
As a result of the above achievements, the programme contributed to improved health, nutrition and wellbeing of poor and vulnerable people in targeted rural LGAs and communities, especially among women and girls.
The programme has also contributed to the positive reduction in “children on the move” and outbreak of cholera diseases in the period of implementation.END