Rural Water Sanitation And Hygiene Department, Water Sanitation And Hygiene Committee Take ODF Campaign To Nnewi North Council Area

As part of efforts to make Nnewi North Local Government Area open defecation-free, members of the Rural Water Sanitation and Hygiene Department and Water Sanitation and Hygiene Committee, recently paid an advocacy visit to the Traditional Ruler of Nnewi, Igwe Kenneth Orizu the third.

The visit was also to have a collaborative benchmark among community leaders in the efforts to drive the open defecation free campaign down to the rural and semi-rural areas.

Speaking during the advocacy visit, the National Co-ordinator of Clean Nigeria and Use the Toilet Campaign, Mrs Chizoma Opera stated that crucial effort in the area of sensitization must be engaged by all stakeholders to add Nnewi North to the list of Open Defecation-Free, Local Government Areas in Anambra State, adding that the mission is also in consonance to the clean, green and livable environment campaign of the present administration in Anambra State.

In her address, the Anambra State Hygiene Officer for Rural Water Sanitation and Hygiene Department and Water Sanitation, Dr Rose Amasiani, said they are working with local government structures as they are the drivers of the programme, adding that they adopted the community led sanitation approach to achieve the goal of making Nnewi North open defecation-free.

The Executive Director of Creative Mind Center for Youths and Community Development, Mrs Ugochi Freeman said that open defecation is one of the biggest environmental health challenges in Nigeria and also a leading cause of child mortality, adding that to achieve the target of the programme in Nnewi North Local Government Area, personal and environmental hygiene must be prioritized.

The Programme Manager Mr Tochukwu Nwosu, in his speech, said that they will work closely with Nzuko Ora Nnewi, the traditional ruler and his cabinet for effective information dissemination, stressing that their target is to achieve Sustainable Development Goal Six Point One and Six Point Two which is to achieve open defecation free by 2025.

In his response, the Traditional Ruler of Nnewi, Igwe Orizu, represented by Prince Chukwhdi Orizu, said that houses in the community have toilets and hand washing facilities, adding that the community will place tough sanctions on anyone who defaults on the open defecation campaign.