According to the 2019 National Outcome Routine Mapping of Water Sanitation and Hygiene Services (WASH NORM), 167 Million people in Nigeria do not have access to handwashing facilities, while sixty (60) million people lack access to the basic water supply.
Thus, the Water Aid Nigeria’s Covid 19 response, which targets 12 million people in six states in Nigeria picked Oyo State as one of the six states for intervention.
While speaking at the launch of the scale-up hygiene project in Ibadan, the commissioner for environment and natural resources, Barr Lateef Oyeleke said the project is aimed at improving water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) situation in the urban, small towns, and rural areas.
According to him, a number of measures have been put in place to discourage open defecation, stressing that members of the Oyo State House of Assembly have taken it upon themselves to put in place facilities and public toilets in their local government areas as part of their constituency projects.
The Chairman Oyo State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency Engineer Najeem Omirinde, assured that the present administration will leave no stone unturned at improving the lots of the people.
He maintained that six states were selected in the south west including Oyo state.
The RUWASSA Boss pointed out that the foundation will use nothing
less than 283 million for the project.
Also speaking, the Head of WASH Services and Acting Director of Programmes, Mr Adebayo Alao pointed out that, it is water Aid’s moral duty to play a pivotal role in preventing the spread of Covid 19, by focusing on key areas of expertise such as hygiene promotion, particularly handwashing with soap and water.
He assured that more than one thousand much-needed handwashing facilities will be installed in select locations and other public places in Nigeria.