By Oghenero Orovwuje
ASABA/Nigeria: Delta State Government has assured of its support of Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign, saying it will continue to pay attention to the water supply, sanitation and hygiene sector in the state.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief Patrick Ukah, gave the assurance today when he declared open the South-South Zonal Review meeting of the Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign, held at the Unity Hall of Government House, Asaba.
The SSG said the efforts of the state government in the water supply, sanitation and hygiene sector had made the state to benefit from various intervention programmes.
He listed the programmes to include the European Union- Niger Delta Supply Support Programme (EU-NDSP), the United States Agency for International Development Effective Water Supply and Sanitation and Hygiene Programme (E-WASH), and the World Bank Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Programme (SURWASH), amongst others.
Chief Ukah noted that the state was one of the first to declare a state of emergency on WASH, and followed it up by constituting the state steering committee with membership drawn from ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
According to him, setting up the committee was among requirements needed for the states to key into the national action plan to revamp the WASH sector, which it had fulfilled.
The SSG equally assured that the state would begin the process of revalidating the Open Defecation Free (ODF) roadmap to accelerate its effort in becoming ODF by 2025.
In a keynote address delivered by the Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu, commended the state government for taking the lead to host the first state zonal review meeting.
The minister, who was represented by the National Coordinator, Clean Nigeria Campaign, Use a Toilet, Mrs. Chizoba Okpara, charged the state to intensify its efforts in achieving ODF in the local government areas.
