From Abdulrazaq Mungadi, Gombe
Five months after signing an executive order banning open defecation in Gombe, the state government has inaugurated a steering committee for the implementation of the order which was signed by Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya in December 2020.
The government had placed a ban on open defecation and declared a state of emergency on the Provision of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (PWASH) in the state.
According to Commissioner of Water Resources Alhaji Mijinyawa Yahaya, the ban is part of efforts to implement the PWASH project of the federal government in Gombe.
Yet months into the ban, Daily Sun observed that public places such as sidewalk and roundabouts in parts of the metropolis are still being used as public convenience.
MIjinyawa told Daily Sun in an interview that the order was yet to be implemented as the team was working on developing the action plan needed for full implementation.
‘After the signing of the order, we have been working, we have been able to develop an ODA road map for Gombe state and within this period of the declaration we have keyed into the national ODA road map.
‘Having gotten the governor’s approval we have inaugurated the state steering committee for the full implementation of the order. we have equally inaugurated the state secretariate which is tagged the “Clean Gombe Secretariat”,’ the commissioner said.
He further explained that the target for Gombe was to be open defecation free by the year 2025. ‘This is in line with the federal government’s declaration. We have been able to do the declaration as directed by the federal government and we are now doing the internal works and the full implementation which will soon come into full force”.
‘Sensitisation is part of the full implementation of the ban, sensitisation, advocacy, and the campaign will take over 70 percent of the implementation because the need to know the dangers associated with open defecation, people need to be acquainted with health hazard related to open defecation,’ Mijinya stated.