Use of Toilets or Nothing Else in Vandeikya, Benue State
Vandeikya Local Government embraces toilet use to achieve open defecation-free.
Vandeikya Local Government Area (LGA) in Benue State is ready to embrace use of toilets, as they embark on LGA wide sensitization as the people vow to realize their ODF status in a short span of time.
What is happening here is that we have received visitors to our community who are giving us more information through drama and plays, so that we can know the importance of having toilets in our homes.
Emmanuel Ugese, 56 years from Tsambe community in Vandeikya looks forward to becoming a toilet business owner to help end and address the negative impacts of Open Defecation on his community.
Ugese was among the numerous people mobilized from the Tsambe, one of the 12 wards of Vandekiya who gathered for the promotional marketing campaigns for improved sanitation in Vandekiya through the partnership of UNICEF, LIXIL, and the Benue State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (BERWASSA), under the Make-A-Splash! Phase III (MAS III) project and the Benue State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (BERWASSA).
I have longed so much for such a time when Vandeikya LGA will become open defecation free, like other LGAs today. We have gathered to learn how to adopt use of toilets for defecation. I am particularly interested in this exercise.
Watching keenly as the promotional toilet education program was shared, Ugese said, “I have seen what is going on here today, it is a very good programme, and I will make sure that I promote toilet marketing and convince people in the community to start using toilets to dispose of their shit. After today, I will be educated on how to market toilets, especially the business aspect of it,” Ugese added.
School children too were not left out as they keenly participated in the exercise, adding further value and improving their knowledge on the need for better sanitation in their local communities.
Ugese sounded convinced and eager to take up his new business option, “this programme looks very lucrative because we have been suffering from many diseases here due to Open defecation (OD) and poor sanitary conditions. So, if we abide by what we are being told, I believe that this Open Defecation issues like typhoid, dysentery, and other diseases will be a thing of the past in the community. So, I will advise that each person should have a toilet”.
Douglas Adzaagee, the BERWASSA official reiterated, “the main aim of this activity is to activate a demand for sanitation products in Vandeikya Local Government Area. We have been doing some activities in this place like promoting some sanitation products while encouraging people to build more toilets so that they can stop defecating in the open”.
Today, this activity is to activate the demand for these sanitation products. You can see that some products were on display today to show people the options to select from. We do not have a particular toilet in mind when we are educating the people. All we try to tell them is that if you have a toilet and the toilet is well maintained, it is better sanitation. So, we brought them together to educate them on different options that they can go for as long as they want to have a toilet.
With large urban and rural areas in Nigeria yet to be declared ODF, UNICEF is committed towards promoting exemplary WASH practices to help in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 6 of ensuring clean water and sanitation for all while ending Open Defecation in Nigeria by 2030.
The promotional activity aims to ensure an increased access to improved sanitation and hygiene services for 65,000 people (13,000 households) through linkage to Toilet Business Owners (TBOs) and artisans in Vandekiya.
The promotional marketing of toilets will further increase the ownership and usage of toilets in the LGA through the activation of demand (by households) for toilets, toilet products and other sanitation services thereby ending open defecation.
This whole exercise was made possible by the LIXIL's Make-A-Splash Phase III (MAS III) project in collaboration with UNICEF. Through their support we brought the activity to Vandeikya LGA. Tsambe is the eleventh ward in Vandeikya receiving this important message on sanitation, and we are sure this will contribute to the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status for Vandeikya very soon.
