Environment
Dev Partners Task C’River, Benue On Counterpart Funds
The National Coordinator
of Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborations Councils (WSSCC) Nigeria, Mrs Priscilla Achakpo, has appealed to the Cross River and Benue State Governments to pay up their counterpart funds to expand rural sanitation and hygiene promotion.
Mrs Achiakpa told newsmen in Abuja that it was important for the state governments to pay up their counterpart funds to reduce incidences of possible outbreak of preventable diseases.
She stated that such timely intervention would matchup to the Global Sanitation fund (GSF) of five million dollars to meet the sanitation and hygiene challenges in the country.
“In June 2014, the Benue and Cross Rivers State Governments indicated commitment to match the initial list financing of 5 million dollars .
These funds will expand the Rural Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion in Nigeria (RUSHPIN) programme to three additional Local Government Areas in each state.
“The Federal Government further committed one million dollars to ensure that sanitation facilities are in place in all public places and institutions across the 12 targeted Local Governments.
“At the programme’s mid-point, the Benue and Cross River States are yet to deliver on their . pledges,” she said.
Achakpa said the group had in September 2015 carried out evidence-based advocacy campaigns to Benue state government, saying he confirmed that the counterpart fund was available.
“ One of the things that we must emphasise is the counterpart funding, it is very key.
“In Benue, we visited the governor in 2015, he promised and said the counterpart funding was there, saying we should go ahead and access it.
“We have not been able to visit the Cross River State governor because their commissioners were sworn in only last November.
“Presently, we have not been able to get the funds to enable us scale up access to rural sanitation and hygiene,” she said.
The national coordinator also urged the three tiers of government to encourage policy makers to increase public funding for improved sanitation and hygiene.
She said diseases caused by poor Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) are the world’s leading causes of under-five mortality, saying Nigeria has one of the highest rates of these diseases in Africa.
It would recalls that in June 2014, Nigeria benefitted from the Global Sanitation Fund (GSF) of five million dollars to meet the sanitation and hygiene challenges in the country.
The RUSHPIN is an initiative of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Water Resources and the Global Sanitation Fund, the grant giving body of the UN WSSCC.
RUSHPIN represents a landmark transition from the traditional donor-recipient relationship of most development programmes.
The innovation sees international funding matched by national, regional and local funding, setting a framework for replication to achieve the national target of an ODF Nigeria by 2025.
President, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Mrs Margaret Oguntala, has inaugurated the construction of 18 units residential terrace in highbrow Alausa area of Lagos toward bridging the nation’s shelter gap.
Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation has launched the 1GOV Enterprise Content Management System (ECMS) to enhance digital governance and improve service delivery.
The launch, held on Thursday in Abuja, marks the ministry’s transition from paper-based operations to a smart, integrated and technology-driven work environment.
The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, said the deployment aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
Utsev said the system would improve data management, streamline workflows and strengthen transparency and accountability across the ministry.
According to him, the ECMS will enhance productivity, preserve institutional memory and reduce operational costs in the ministry.
Launching the platform, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, said the initiative is a major step in public sector reform.
She said the ministry’s mandate affects Nigerians through water supply, sanitation, irrigation, river basin development and climate resilience programmes.
Walson-Jack said the 1GOV ECMS enables secure digital records management, automated workflows, electronic approvals and real-time collaboration across MDAs.
She added that the deployment aligns with the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021–2025 and the directive for full digitalisation by December 2025.
“Effective governance cannot afford delays caused by manual bottlenecks or avoidable inefficiencies,” she said.
She directed that all official correspondence in the ministry must henceforth be processed through approved digital registry channels.
In her remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Dr Emanso Umobong, said the system would eliminate workflow inefficiencies and improve service delivery.
She urged staff to fully adopt the platform and engage in continuous capacity building.
Research shows that local communities and citizens living at the grassroots, particularly women, are directly impacted by the environmental degradation, flooding and others that result from these manifestations.
In the light of this, non-governmental organisation, Ese Usamali Foundation For Rural Development (EUFORDe), has held a forum for women and other members of oil impacted communities, tagged: ‘Voices from the Grassroots,’ and aimed at building their resilience and mitigation efforts against climate change and environmental degradation
The forum, with the theme: ‘Building Resilience for Oil Spill Impacted Ahoada Communities,’ organised with support from Global Green Grants, was held in Ahoada Community, Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, on December 5, 2025.
Executive Director of Ese Usamali Foundation For Rural Development, Mercy Elemchukwu-James, said women are at the forefront of efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change and environmental degradation.
The event, therefore, was “designed for community women impacted by oil spills, flooding and other environmental degradation,” she said.
Community women were enlightened by resource persons on new opportunities for sustainable agricultural practices and water management techniques that cushion the impact of oil spills.
Lectures were also delivered on Self-care and Trauma-care, with focus on physical and mental health of the population, and increasing access to health-related resources and services; as well as on Food security and women’s critical role in decision making in oil spill and flood situations in communities
Elemchukwu-James pointed out that the event created a forum for stakeholders, civil society actors and others to dialogue on measures at advancing inclusive and sustainable livelihoods of community women.
She stressed the need for collaborative efforts towards achieving mitigation efforts, while underscoring EUFORDe’s commitment to “fostering partnerships as a critical driver for achieving a healthy community and sustainable development.”
Elemchukwu-James described participants’ design of ‘Community Resilience Plan,’ to manage and combat environmental degradation and crises, as part of achievements recorded at the event.
The forum also witnessed the launching of EUFORDs’ Center For Resilience and Rights.
“This center is established to build resilience as Trauma-Care for victims of environmental degradation, support for survivors of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and a platform where victims of environmental injustice and other GBV cases can seek redress,” Elemchukwu-James said.
Participants celebrated the milestones achieved and charted a path toward greater impact in the coming years. They also described the event as “an inspiring and transformative experience.”
Elemchukwu-James said the awareness creation workshop “reaffirms EUFORDe’s mission to create an equitable society in which the rights and capacities of women, youth, children and underprivileged are integrated in the socio-economic planning and development of communities, for the attainment of equity and peace.
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