Enugu on track to end open defecation by 2025, says Peter Mbah

Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu, says the government is working on improving water, sanitation and hygiene challenges in the state to end open defecation by 2025.

Mbah spoke on Monday when he received officials of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) at the government house in Enugu.

During the meeting, Jane Bevan, UNICEF chief of WASH, presented a master plan to the governor for achieving SDGs by 2030.

The governor said he constituted the state economic planning commission to enable governors and local government chairmen to deliberate on issues affecting the state.

He said the government’s campaign promise to provide water supply to the people is on course, adding that leakages in water reservoirs are also being fixed across the state.

“Recall that we recognised from the outset, the very importance of water to our lives. We have from the inauguration, embarked on a very aggressive campaign towards water for our city and rural dwellers,” the governor said.

“So, we have the honour of hosting the chief of WASH, UNICEF Nigeria, who came to present to us, beyond a baseline, a very detailed document, identifying the critical challenges we have in the area of WASH and we have also gone through those areas of challenges.

“In the presentations are also pillars that we need and things we could do to help us achieve certain milestones by the SDG goals and we also have a target to ensure that by 2025, we have an end to open defecation in Enugu state.

“We made a promise to our people that in 180 days from our swearing-in, we will provide water on a regular basis in our metropolis and it is 102 days left. I am pleased to inform you that, with what we have on ground, we are going to beat that deadline.

“We know that we need a minimum of 100,000 cubic of water daily in Enugu city. So, the current plan we have will see us generating, in less than eight weeks, more than 120,000 cubic metres of water.

“We are fixing the leakages we have in our reservoirs. So we are going to ensure no water is leaking from the reservoirs. We are able to deploy the whole water we are generating to the people.

“We are expanding the reticulation from the distribution side of things. So, we are taking this coverage to ensure the entire city is covered. The new layouts that were not originally captured are being captured.”