Water, Sanitation And Health Take Center Stage In 2 Days Workshop For Journalists, CSOs (VIDEO)

By Efa Sunday

The Federal Ministry of Water Resources in collaboration with UNICEF Nigeria have ended a two day zonal workshop on ‘Implementation of Community WASH Media Advocacy Networking in Nigeria.’

In the workshop which held at Jorany hotel Calabar, the Cross River State capital the Program Officer of Center for Innovation Data and Advanced Water and Sanitation (CIDAWS), Mr. Pius Eno charged participants to collaborate with stakeholders to prioritize issues of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene WASH.

The workshop according to him is to ensure “that the rural communities will be armed with the appropriate information that will help them understand their WASH rights.”

Some Participants, Credit: CrossRiverWatch.

Mr. Pius likened the media to a teacher as he stated that if the media is not involved in anything, then it cannot be productive.

He implored members of the various media organizations present to do more of investigative reporting with a view to strengthening community voices and advocacy about WASH rated issues.

In the same vein, the WASH Officer for UNICEF Nigeria, Mr. George Ugbong charged the media practioners to hold government and other relevant authorities accountable for abandoned WASH projects.

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According to him, “Generally, accountability is of the fact that in the sector of Water and Sanitation in the States that we come from, anything that is supposed to be done that is not done, someone should be asked why. And anybody responsible for performing such a duty should be called to answer the question why it has not been done.”

More Participants at the workshop, Credit: CrossRiverWatch.

On his part, Mr. Olaiya Olabamidele, Federal Ministry of Water Resources WASH Officer highlighted some of the basic challenges faced by the WASH sector.

The challenges he highlighted include; low political will from the Government, poor prioritization of Water and Sanitation services, low budgets for provision of WASH services and poor quality of service provision.

The workshop which was funded by the EU and DFID had participants from four pilots State which are Jigawa, Cross River, Plateau and Bauchi as well as some members of Civil Society Organization and RUWASSA.

Watch report on CrossRiverWatch TV below.

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