The Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Council of Rivers on Wednesday pledged its commitment to safeguard water facilities sited in three communities in the area.

Mr Eugene Jaja, the Chairman of the council, gave the assurance when the United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) led journalists on a field trip to some of the water projects on Wednesday in Port Harcourt.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the projects are interventions of European Union/UNICEF sited in at Kpopko, Aya-Ama and Ottonlama.

Jaja specifically noted that they would employ the services of both internal and government security agencies to protect the water projects from been vandalised and other activities that could impede the realisation of the sole purpose of the intervention.

The chairman, who lamented that in time past the area had witnessed consistent outbreak of water borne diseases like Cholera, Diarrhoea and dysentery, which he noted claimed the lives of some of their children.

He attributed this to the consumption of bad water.

According to him, prior to this EU/UNICEF intervention the benefitting communities sourced their water from contaminated river and wells from distance which is not good for consumption, but now have access to potable drinking water.

He commended EU/UNICEF for selecting the local government to benefit from the project.

Jaja called for concerted efforts of community leaders, parents, guardians and children, among other stakeholders, to ensure protection of the projects.

He further enjoined parents to warn their children and wards against any act that could rob the populace of benefitting maximally from the water projects, warning that whoever is caught will face the wrath of the law.

“This water projects has wipe out our tears because it has put an end to outbreak of epidemic diseases and resultant death rate which has been a major challenge to the entire area.

“The project has also helped our mothers and children to ease off stress, loss of man hour spent in the process of getting water from well, stream as well as dangers that could arise.

“Our children should do everything possible to ensure they do not tamper with the project, to secure this project because damaging them will resurface epidemic and this can affect any household irrespective of status,” Jaja warned.

Similarly, Mr Ezekiel Jaja, the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Coordinator of the area, noted that prior to the WASH project a lot of the populace defecate in the open.

Jaja explained that so far they have been able to sensitise community members on the health implication, hazards of defecating in the open and need to have toilet facilities in every household, among others.

According to him, large numbers of the citizens now have toilet facilities in their homes.

Also, Mr Napoleon Adah form the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) of the state, noted that the communities have for the past 100 years of existence depended on water sourced from contaminated river and well.

According to him, the EU/UNICEF intervention had really eased them of challenges of consuming of contaminated water.

Adah noted that toilet facilities have been constructed in some schools within the locality while others have already been awarded for construction.

He said that the measure which was part of the WASH project would reduce open defecation practice in the area to the barest minimum. (NAN)

– Sept. 19, 2018 @ 16:15 GMT |