To ensure social inclusiveness that will accommodate women and girls and people with disabilities, Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency (BASEPA) and Water Aid Nigeria will conduct a study on the conditions of public toilet facilities across the state.
This formed part of the discussion between the Director-General BASEPA Dr Ibrahim Kabir and the Head, Bauchi field office of Water Aid Nigeria, Mr Mallar Washat when he paid a courtesy visit to the agency.
Washat said that WaterAid Nigeria is working with governments across the globe and they have been in the country for more than a decade with a vision to have a world where everyone has access to clean water, decent toilet and good hygiene.
The agency is also working to help people break from diseases and poverty, unlock their potential and transform their lives through safe, sustainable and improved access to these essentials service.
It is with a specific vision to align with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) goal 6.0, focusing on 6.1 and 6.2 of achieving universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water and adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and also ending open defecation by the year 2030.
Mallard Washat also said that the visit is to partner with BASEPA to forge a way forward in achieving SDGs goal 6 of access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene toilet facilities, with specific attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations.
On his part, Kabir while welcoming the WaterAid team to the agency, said that the visit has come at a better time when BASEPA is in the process of reviewing its laws to accommodate the current realities of environmental challenges.
He added that at the same time in the process of validating the developed proposed guidelines on faecal sludge management in the state, which he said are all in line with the SDGs.
He added that the agency will surely partner with them in the areas of innovation and stressed the need to also consider religious centres in ensuring social inclusiveness in their conveniences.
As the custodian of all the public toilets owned by the government and the regulator of the public toilets operations in the state, the Director-General stressed the need for conducting a study on the existing facilities using a developed instrument.
“The study will provide an opportunity to check the conditions and the ratio between males and females of all the public conveniences, especially here in the state capital, and interview the users for feedback on whether yes or no the facilities are user-friendly among others.”
On the issue of having a prototype design of public conveniences that will cater for the interests of people with special needs and vulnerable situations for social inclusiveness, Kabir urged WaterAid to see the possibility of constructing one to serve as a reference point in the state.
In another development, the Director-General also interacted with the NYSC Medical Community Development Service (CDS) group where issues of a clean environment and the improvement of public health took the center stage.
The corps members were at the agency for a thank you visit following support given to them during a special waste evacuation exercise conducted by the group at Yelwa, a suburb of the state, where the Agency provide the group with working tools and machinery to carry out the exercise.
During the interaction, the Director-General encouraged the corps members to include the issues of tree planting exercise in their activities.
He promised to give them 1000 seedlings and all other technical support for the exercise and also call on them to join hands with the agency to see the possibility of constructing a waste collection centre in the community.
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