10,000 residents from four communities in the Bwari Area Council of the FCT have gained access to clean water thanks to the WaterAid Nigeria intervention project and its partners.

Mr Williams Kolo, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Coordinator for Bwari Area Council, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja during a WaterAid Project Close-Out meeting for the 14-month intervention project.

The meeting, tagged ‘Strengthening Water and Sanitation Delivery Project in Bwari Area Council,’ was organised by WaterAid Nigeria in collaboration with the FCT Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that other partners in the project included Bwari Area Council and were funded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

While presenting an overview of the project’s outcomes, Kolo stated that 10,000 residents now have access to clean water, WASH management skills, and sanitation promotion messages.

‘10,000 people gained access to clean water, 647 people gaine
d access to safely managed sanitation facilities, and 3,500 people, including women and children, were reached with sanitation promotion messages.

‘The organisation constructed and rehabilitated 10,000-liter and 20,000-liter capacity solar/electric powered water boreholes in four communities and one school, including water kiosks.

‘Additionally, 115 members, comprising 67 males and 48 females of WASH management structures and hygiene promoters, were trained across the four beneficiary communities.

‘It is also notable that these water points have been certified to have zero coliform levels in the five water facilities procured in the four communities and the school.’

The beneficiary communities listed were Baran-goni, Zuma II, Sabon-Gari, Dakwa, and LEA Primary School, Tudun-fulani.

Kolo further stated that to sustain and replicate the intervention, an investment plan has been mapped out by the partners to help the council construct more infrastructure in other communities.

This, he added, was to ensure
other communities in the council gain access to clean water, while assuring that the WASH unit would help ensure funds for such projects were included in the council’s subsequent budget.

Speaking with NAN on the progress of the project, Mr Nanpet Chuktu, Head of Programmes, WaterAid Nigeria said that the 14 month project was aimed to strengthen WASH delivery in selected communities in the council.

This, he further said was designed to complement the efforts of government in addressing access to WASH services, while improving hygiene behaviours and outcomes among target population.

The project, he added, focused on increasing access to WASH services by constructing and rehabilitating water facilities in the selected communities and providing gender-inclusive public sanitation facilities and participation.

He said: ‘ Today’s meeting with partners and WASH committee representatives is to close out a one year mini project we currently have in the council.

‘It is to show accountability and say we started this
last year, this is what we promised and this is what we delivered.

‘Bwari Area Council is still a work in progress, the council and RUWASSA are the key institutions we are supporting, and therefore, we are still on ground with similar projects.

‘This is to first demonstrate a model they can use to improve the status of WASH in the communities and at the same time charge government to use the models to grow.

‘We will like to see that by the next budget cycle, the council has dedicated funding for similar projects in other communities and not just rely on donor organisations.’

He also praised the council’s inclusion of 40 percent women in the WASH committee, noting that their active participation was impressive.

One of the committee members, Mrs. Safiya Rafiu from Baran-goni community, appreciated the effort by the partners and prayed for God’s blessings on all who worked to bring smiles to the faces of the people.

She said that the initiative had not only improved sanitation in her community but had als
o helped the WASH committee sell water at a subsidized rate to residents to maintain and sustain the facility.

NAN reports that the meeting, which had all partners and committee members of the project in attendance, also included the presentation of maintenance kits to representatives of all the beneficiary communities.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria