‘98% Bauchi residents can’t access safe water, 21% defecate openly’

UNFPA, others develop CtA roadmap on GBV in N’East

WaterAid Nigeria has said that only two per cent of the Bauchi State population can access “safely-managed”, water while 21 per cent of the residents defecate openly, which, it said, worsened the cholera outbreak last year.

Speaking on the ‘Hygiene Behaviour Change’ programme of Women Development Association for Self Sustenance (WODASS), the State Coordinator, Ezekiel Sukumun, noted that 81 per cent of the population lacks access to basic hygiene and 74 per cent consumes contaminated water.

According to Sukumun, with good hygiene practices recommended as the first line of defence in the prevention of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and other infectious diseases, Bauchi is performing below average in the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene services.

“The Water, Sanitation, Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping Survey 2021 (WASHNORMS 2021) shows that 81 per cent of the people in Bauchi lacks access to basic hygiene services, while 21 per cent still practises open defecation, an act which pollutes the environment and water bodies, contributing to the consumption of E.coli-contaminated water by 74 per cent of the population.

“In schools, healthcare centres and public places, access to basic WASH services is equally very low, with 18 per cent, seven per cent and three per cent access rates respectively,” he stated.

IN another development, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has received over 58,517 complaints on Sexual Gender Based-Violence (SGBV) against women and children in 2021.

It has also created a Counselling Unit And Vulnerable Groups Department to address the overwhelming complaints from the public.

NHRC’s Deputy Director, Research, Mrs. Ngozi Okore, raised the alarm, yesterday, in Maiduguri at the Call to Action (CtA) workshop to develop the 2022-2025 roadmap for North East.

The two-day workshop organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was to develop a roadmap on the protection of women and children from GBV in emergencies.

CtA is funded by the Government of Denmark and supported by Norway.

“We are to collectively review the progress, challenges and lessons from the implementation of CtA 2019-2021 roadmap,” she said.

For public complaints, she said: “There is a designated toll-free line, as well as the launching of a digital application, known as UNSUB,” adding that the platform directs a victim to a responder.

Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dr. Fatima Waziri, represented by the Ag. Director, Mrs. Ijeoma Amugo, noted GBV as a crime against humanity.

The Minister for Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, represented by Ms Abia Udeme, described CtA as a global multi-stakeholders initiative to transform the way humanitarian actors address GBV in emergencies.