Chairman of Cross River State Task Group on Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water Resources, Engr. Okon Ita, has assured residents of the state that the water and sanitation bill awaiting review at the State House of Assembly will bring about good sanitation and improved hygiene when the governor assent to the Bill.
Ita made the remarks while answering questions from LEADERSHIP shortly after stakeholders’ brainstorming session to review the 2nd phase of Open Defecation Prohibition Bill n Calabar ON Friday.
The chairman of the Task Group stated that the obsolete policy enacted 14 years ago needed to be reviewed, stressing that he was optimistic that once the Open Defecation Prohibition Bill was given assent by the State governor and passed nto law, the state will witness tremendous transformation.
He stressed that once the law becomes operational, water borne diseases like diarrhoea, cholera and others known for killing children, will become a thing of the past.
“Once the governor gives accent to that law, we will be able to have a regulated water sector in the state.
“We would no longer have scourges like cholera, diarrhoea and other water borne diseases ravaging our people like children who die below five years of age. Once we get all these, people will be healthy and happy.
“Once the law is passed, even donors will be willing to come in and invest in the state,” he stated.
Giving insight on Open Defecation Prohibition Bill (ODPB), he said. “Worldwide, people are no longer defecating in the open, but in Nigeria, we discovered that so many people don’t have toilet. You see them going to the bush to defecate.
“It’s the reason you see a lot of water borne diseases, ravaging our people. So that Bill is an attempt by young men to stop people from defecating in the open so that water borne diseases will be stamped out,” the Permanent Secretary stated.
Also speaking, Programme Manager, WS4H, Self Help Africa, Mr.John Wali, lauded the Cross River State government for the proactive steps taken to keep the state free from open defecation.
In his earlier remarks, Wash Policy Consult, Dr Terwase Shabu, said, “We are assuring participants that this time around the policy and the bill will be passed into law.
“And we will be able to address sanitation, water, and hygiene exigencies. It won’t be a wasted effort as the first,” he maintained.
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