By Samuel Luka, Bauchi
Katagum local government area of Bauchi state has been adjudged to have performed poor in the area of Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) activities in the state.
A group known as Bauchi State Task Group on Sanitation (STGS) made the rating available to newsmen while briefing the Councils WASH committee on the outcome of the weeklong certification exercise in the local government yesterday.
According to the state Chairperson of the group, Hajiya Halima Mohammed, the certification exercise was conducted as a prerequisite for the council to attain open defecating assessment of the group.
Hajiya Mohammed expressed shock that the LG scored 64% in open defecation which the council considered as a low performance.
She described the outcome of the result as appalling, considering Katagum LGA as the second prominent council in size and population.
Mohammed noted that many households have failed to construct toilets despite previous efforts to educate them on the danger of open defecation.
She said that the group acknowledges the incidence of toilet collapse due to heavy downpour this year,
Hajiya Mohammed regretted that Katagum local council is not doing enough to support the WASH special committee on sanitation to carry out its mandate.
Hajiya Mohammed stressed the need to sensitize the public on the health hazards associated with open defecation and failure to construct improved toilets.
She urged the council to ensure proper funding of the WASH unit and reorganize the Water Sanitation and Hygiene Committees (WASHCOM) at ward levels by allowing only people with passion for WASH to enlist as members.
While responding, WASH coordinator of Katagum LGA, Malam Saidu Mohammed Alkali blamed previous leadership of the council for its unimpressive performance in the current rating exercise.
He expressed optimism that the new council will address the situation considering its concern over the matter.
"We have a by-law already in place against open defecation but enforcement is our major problem and the special committee cannot function effectively without financial and logistic support to carry out its mandate", he said.
He however said with the result of the just concluded exercise, the council would re-strategize to ensure that Katagum LG attains open defecation free status soon.
In their earlier remarks, the representatives of the CSOs and government agencies, Nelson Kawe of FAHIMTA and Hajiya Asmau Zuni of the primary healthcare agency advocated for increased awareness on attitudinal change.
According to them, increase awareness should be created to encourage households to construct toilets in order to curb open defecation and to check the spread of water-borne diseases.
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