Sanitation: FG frowns at Benue, Cross River.

Suleiman Adamu, Water resources minister. Twitter photo.

The Federal Government has frowned at the governments of Benue and Cross River for not releasing their counterpart funds for sanitation programmes in their states.

The Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, while speaking at a meeting with the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) team from Geneva urged the states to make their payments.

WSSCC is funding the Rural Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion in Nigeria (RUSHPIN) programme in three local government areas in each of the two states.

Adamu said that it was saddening to note that the two states had not been able to pay up counterpart funds for the upgrade of the programme, adding that lack of water and sanitation impacted negatively on the economy, health and productivity.

He said that the payment of the funds was an opportunity to scale up sanitation and hygiene in the states, while reducing disease prevalence there.

“The Federal Government is committed to improving the lives of Nigerians by scaling up sanitation and hygiene, while increasing their access to potable water.

“This commitment led to the inauguration of the Partnership for Extended Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) as a collaborative programme towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goal Six on water and sanitation.

“The RUSHPIN programme is a good target towards commitment to reduce the statistics of 46 million people practising open defecation and 71 per cent of them lacking basic sanitation,’’ Adamu said.

Mr Chris Williams, Executive Director, WSSCC, said that nations could not quantify the benefits of investing in water and sanitation projects, adding that with the commitment of all stakeholders, the goals of RUSHPIN would be met.

He noted that the progress which Nigeria had made in the two states indicated that with strengthened collaboration and payment of counterpart funds, open defecation would cease

Williams said that increased access of the people to water and sanitation would also be guaranteed.

“It has been proved that massive investment in water and sanitation reduces health costs, while increasing girls’ school attendance and women empowerment,’’ he said.

Also speaking, Mr Nanpet Chuktu, the RUSHPIN Programme Manager, said within four years of programme implementation, 1,859 communities had been reached with hygiene messages.

Chuktu said that 600,000 people now lived in open defecation-free communities in the six local government areas.

He said that the agency used Community Led-Total Sanitation (CLTS) model to encourage the communities to build and use toilets, while adopting behavioural change as a means of promoting hygienic habits.

The Deputy Governor of Benue, Mr Benson Abounu, attributed the delay in the payment of the counterpart funds to undue government bureaucracy and delay in funds allocation, amongst others.

He gave an assurance that there was no controversy concerning the issue of counterpart funding for development projects in the state.

Abounu, however, said that the change in government in the state might have caused some delay because of adjustment to new policies and programmes.

“Benue State is grateful to WSSCC for choosing the state for its projects; we are, however, assuring you that we will play our part within the shortest time,’’ he said.

Mr Gabe Odu, the Cross River Commissioner for Water Resources, said that with the RUSHPIN intervention, no fewer than 376 communities in the state had been declared open defecation-free.

Odu said that the state was proud to have Obanlinku Local Government Area as the first area to be declared open defecation-free in the country.

“The Cross River Government is known to be donor-friendly, as shown by the release of N100 million for the UNICEF/EU water programme.

“Besides, N220 million has been budgeted for sanitation and other water programmes in the 2017 budget,’’ he added.

The commissioner pledged that the counterpart funds would be paid to implementing partners soon.