Catch up with the news!

.

—- As Ondo Community leaders seek access to portable water from govt

Dayo Johnson Akure

A Non – Governmental Organization, HACEY Health Initiative said it has provided access to potable water in 90 communities across the country within the last five years.

Its Executive Director, Rhoda Robinson said the initiative was aimed at improving access to safe water for communities, health workers and pregnant women.

Speaking through the Programme Manager, Chioma Osakwe, Robinson said the clean water initiative came from seeing most communities not having access to potable water.

Robinson said this at the official launch of the boreholes project for primary health care centres and public schools at the Primary Health Care Centre, Iju-Odo and that of Ilutitun-Osooro Ward II, in Okitipupa council area, Ondo State.

According to her “You go to most communities and you see that they have access to water but not portable water.

” You see a situation where you see high incidences of water burn diseases, diarrhoea, children under the age of five years dying from direct diseases, this is not supposed to be in this century and time.

“We work with the ministry of education and health because this project is for primary public schools and health centres.

“So, we reach out to the ministries and they recommended what communities to work with and I must confess that the process has been seamless.

“This project has been running since 2017 and so far, we’ve been able to provide access to potable water in 90 communities across Nigeria.

“This year, the project was for 10 communities. We did four here in Ondo state, comprising of Okitipupa and Irele LGAs.

“The boreholes were installed in five primary health care centres, which include Ase Primary Health Care Centre, Ndokwa East council of Delta State; Ogbaku Primary Health Care Centre, Okwu, Mbaitoli local council, Imo state; Uwaorie Primary Health Care Centre, Oguta local council, Imo State; Ilutitun Basic Health Care Centre, Okitipupa local council Area Ward II, Ondo State and Iju- Odo Primary Health Care Centre, Okitipupa local council, Ondo state.

“The five public schools are Olomu Secondary School, Otorere-Olomu, Ughelli South local council, Delta State; Obiogo Primary School, Emu-Obiogo, Ndokwa West local council Area, Delta State; Community School, Ogbaku, Mbaitoli local council; St Patrick’s R.C.M Primary School, Akotogbo, Irele local council, Ondo State and C.A.C Primary School, Odo-Irele, Irele local council, Ondo State”.

She added that the initiative would boost the supply of hygienic water, sanitation and reduce infection in communities while calling for collaboration between government and communities to guarantee project sustainability.

Speaking earlier, the Oniju Of Iju-Odo, Oba Festus Olumoyegun appealed to government at all levels, stakeholders and non-governmental organizations to provide them with portable water.

Oba Olumoyegun, represented by the Oniogbe of monogbe, Chief Omodele Adebayo said statistics released by UNICEF shows that about 124,000 children under the age of 5 die every year because of diarrhoea, mainly due to contaminated water, sanitation and hygiene stressing that lack of adequate water and sanitation are also major causes of other diseases such as typhoid and cholera.

The monarch said the communities depended on the river for drinking water and domestic use, which he described as polluted and unsafe, noting that the communities deserved a reliable alternative source of water as the people had endured for long.

“The cost of sachet water in this community rises from N10 to N20 and most of our people cannot afford the sachet water at that price. We are always worried of what the situation may lead to but thanks for this one.

“The primary health care centre here and most part of the community has been suffering having water but thank God for this intervention because this will pave way for our people to come here and get portable water.

“The government has been doing well but key stakeholders across different sectors should increase investment in water, sanitation and hygiene for women and children especially those in rural and underserved communities as this, I believe will go a long way in achieving a healthy and productive society.

Oba Olumoyegun said ” no doubt, Iju-odo has portable water challenge. Most of our people do go to the stream to fetch water, but with this, we can smile a bit and I want to assure this NGO that we will make proper use of this project and I am appealing to all sons and daughters of this community to fast track this kind of projects.