Effective faecal Sludge management, panacea to open defecation practice – UNICEF
By Samuel Luka, Bauchi
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has disclosed that effective faecal Sludge management is capable of addressing the menace of open defecation in communities.
Giving update on the progress attained in addressing the menace of open defecation in Bauchi state at the Bauchi UNICEF office on Monday, State Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Facilitator Supporting the UNICEF, Abdulsalam Abdullahi Mohammed observed that, if wealth can be created from the human waste (faeces) it will lead to attainment of ODF status in the remaining local government areas of the state.
“What will also spark the attainment of ODF by the remaining LGs is trying to create wealth from the waste, having more private sector participation, will solve the problem”, he explained.
Mohammed said once people realized that human faeces can be used to create energy or turn it to organic manure to be used for farming activities, open defecation will stopped.
“If there is value in this shit, if you can tap energy from it, if you can utilize it effectively and turn it to organic manure, we are good to go”, he said.
The WASH Facilitator disclosed that currently, companies from Abuja are beginning to come to Bauchi to collaborate with some private sector to put up a farm where they plant fruits and ensure that they stick to using organic fertilizer.t
“Very soon when you see human faeces in Bauchi in the open you will be shocked, you will be seeing as someone throwing away his money. It will interest you to know that UNICEF next big move on sanitation is innovative sanitation drive, let’s replicate what has worked well and see how we can improve on having safely managed sanitation that are affordable”, he said.
Mohammed said leading innovations and creating opportunities for private sector participation are part of the key drives that UNICEF is actually pushing for.
According to him, after the certification of Nine Local Government Areas as open defecation free (ODF) by the National Task Group on Sanitation (NTGS), three other LGAs in the state are also at the verge of being certified.
He commended Governor Bala Mohammed’s administration for being proactive in ensuring that the state become open defecation free.
Earlier speaking, Nanbam Michael Dawap, Water and Sanitation Officer, UNICEF Bauchi Field office said that the journey to ODF in Bauchi state started over ten years ago and has succeeded in local government areas of the state.
Dawap who explained that the UNICEF supported Bauchi state government to mobilize communities, said Community led total sanitation approach was used to ensure that communiries understand what is open defecation free and its benefits and the dangers of practicing open defecation itself.
She said, without safely managed sanitation, women are prone to attacks, abuse and shaming because, open defecation is not dignifying, especially for women.
“Women don’t have a dignified life because where there is no toilet to use a woman is forced to go outside and do open defecation, this is not dignifying, and as a result, she has to go to somewhere to hide, in a nearby bush where she is prone to violent attack, that is not acceptable”, she added.