By Sarah NEGEDU
Efforts to tackle poor sanitation and promote cleaner rural environments in the Federal Capital Territory has gained traction, as the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes, ACReSAL, commissioned a waste management facility in Wako community in Kwali Area Council.
The Mandate Secretary, Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Abdullahi Ango, said the initiative would not only enhance hygiene but also stimulate economic activities in the benefiting communities.
He explained that the intervention which also includes the distribution of 14 tricycles for refuse collection in Sheda, will be extended beyond Kwali to all six Area Councils of the FCT.
Ango noted that the provision of toilets in rural communities, tricycles for waste evacuation, and the establishment of Community Interest Groups, CIGs, for waste management were deliberate steps to improve sanitation and curb disease outbreaks.
According to him, “the CIGs that benefited were selected because of the need assessment and their continued activities in the respected areas.”
The Mandate Secretary, who doubles as chairman of the ACReSAL project committee, disclosed that additional special projects would soon be implemented in other councils.
On her part, the ACReSAL Project Coordinator, Caroline Opara, said the scheme was designed to address community-level sanitation challenges and eliminate open defecation.
She explained that the tricycles were distributed to Community Interest Groups committed to maintaining environmental cleanliness, stopping indiscriminate waste dumping, and improving their livelihoods.
Opara also revealed that ACReSAL was finalising plans for an erosion control project in Gwagwalada Area Council.
The Etsu Wako, Abdulazeez Usman, lauded the FCT Administration and ACReSAL for extending development projects to rural communities, describing the intervention as “a thing of joy.”
He pledged the community’s commitment to protecting the facility “to serve the purpose that is constructed.”
The representative of the National Project Coordinator, Amina Mustapha, is optimistic that the intervention would go a long way in promoting a healthy environment across the FCT.
