Sanitation Hygiene And Water In Nigeria (SHAWN) has certified Dass Local Government Area of Bauchi State as Open Defecation Free (ODF).
SHAWN project supported by the UNICEF, DFID certified Dass council as the first to be declared out of the 70 in the six SHAWN Projects states.
Addressing journalists in Bauchi, the Secretary to the Bauchi State government, Alhaji Muhammed Nadada Umar, in company of UNICEF, DFID representatives and other stakeholders, said that it was a remarkable achievement looking at the speed at which the feat was attained by Dass council in attaining the ODF status.
“I am aware that Warji and Gamawa LGAs are also on the verge of attaining the ODF status probably before the end of the year and I wish to therefore call on all concerned to work assiduously towards the achievement of this, and to remain focused on the state’s roadmap for the attainment of the state-wide ODF by 2025 in our collective efforts towards the attainment of the WASH SDGs,” he said.
Also, the General Manager (GM), Rural Water Supply And Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA), Garba Magaji, while giving an overview of the SHAWN and WASH projects, said that the first phase of the programme started in 2010 with three LGAs of Dass, Gamawa and Warji.
According to him, it was later extended to include Shira and Toro LGAs in 2012 while Bogoro, Ganjuwa and Zaki LGAs were included in 2014.
“At the beginning of the second phase of the project in 2016, two more LGAs; Bauchi and Katagum, were self-selected for further expansion of the project, thereby making the total number of the project benefiting LGAs in the state then,” he added.
According to him, at the inception of the SHAWN project, personal hygiene especially menstural hygiene was at its lowest, while women and children spent most of their time searching for water from unsafe sources while water and sanitation-related diseases are rampant.
“Consequently, sanitation intervention using the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) was adopted as the entry point of the project implementation,” he added.
He said that the approach provided the means to effect behaviour change among the people of communities, which triggered spontaneous action and commitment to end unsafe sanitation and hygiene behaviours like open defecation.
Dass was the first council to be declared Open Defaecation-free out of 70 councils in the six SHAWN projects states and out of the 774 councils in the country.
