WaterAid Nigeria has inaugurated boreholes and sanitation facilities in five communities in the Misau Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

The organisation also provided hygiene promotion services reaching over 25,000 people in the benefiting communities.

Head of Grants, WaterAid Nigeria, Emmanuel Iorkumbi, said this at the inauguration of the facilities on Thursday in Misau, headquarters of Misau LGA.

He said the projects were being implemented by the Women Development Association for Self-Sustainance (WODASS) and funded by DP World and WaterAid-Nigeria.

Mr Iorkumbi listed the benefitting communities to include Malekiri, Kopageri, Hadisade, Goluba, Jirari, Central motor park and Misau market.

He said that 11,928 people in Malekiri, Kopageri, Hadisade and Goluba communities would have access to clean and safe drinking water through motorised boreholes.

“Families have experienced the consequences of unsafe water through illness, frequent hospital visits and the kind of worry that no parent should have to carry.

“About 2,000 users at the Central motor park and Misau market will benefit from improved sanitation facilities, while hygiene promotion activities under the project will reach 11,200 people in the benefiting communities.  

“The intervention will reduce water-related diseases and improve the health and wellbeing of the residents, particularly women, children, traders and travellers,” he said.

Mr Iorkumbi said the sanitation facilities would help address open defecation (ODF)  at the market and motor park.

According to Mr Iorkumbi, the interventions demonstrate the importance of collaboration between government and development partners.

The General Manager, Bauchi State Rural Water and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA), Samaila Jibrin, urged members of the benefiting communities to take ownership of the facilities and ensure their proper maintenance.

Mr Jibrin commended the state government, development partners, community leaders and WASH committees for supporting the implementation of the project.

Also, Chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the area, Yau Abubakar, lauded the gesture, adding that it would safeguard public health.

He said the association would ensure proper maintenance of the facility. 

(NAN)