Nasarawa condoles with journalists over reporter’s death

NASARAWA State Government has expressed sadness over the death of the state correspondent of The Nation newspaper, Mr. Johnny Danjuma, who passed away last week, in his hometown in Kogi state after a protracted illness.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme in the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Kannan Nadar has said at a national workshop of Stakeholders on Sanitation Marketing in Nigeria held at Akwanga, Nasarawa, that just over 13,000 communities have achieved Open Defecation Free ODF status, which has led to significant improvements in overall sanitation coverage in the country

The Chief of WASH maintained that the two-pronged approach of ensuring quality Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) interventions and sanitation marketing approach is needed to help the poorest people own latrines and help Nigeria realize its goal of achieving an ODF status by 2025.

Nadar expressed regrets that despite concerted efforts in achieving the MDG target of achieving 67 percent Sanitation coverage by 2015, sanitation still stands at 34 percent, disclosing that national policy makers and key stakeholders are planning to accelerate coverage in order to achieve the 100 percent sanitation coverage by 2030 in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The Special Assistant to the Nasarawa Governor on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Ahmed Tukur, who paid a condolence visit to members of the chapel at their secretariat in Lafia, said Governor Al Makura was shocked when he received the news of the death of the hardworking reporter.

He described the late journalist as a credible and experienced reporter who contributed in the development of Nasarawa State.

Tukur noted that Governor Al Makura and his deputy, Silas Agara, who assisted the deceased family at various stages when he was receiving treatment, were shocked when they got the information that Johnny is “no more.”

“His Excellency and his deputy were deeply shocked when they received the news, on their behalf and the people of Nasarawa State, I extend our heartfelt condolences to the late correspondent of The Nation immediate family, his relatives and to we his friends in the chapel.”

While praying for the repose of the late journalist, Tukur urged members of the chapel to exploit avenues to assist the deceased wife and her two kids.