Environment
WTD: RSG Recommits To End Open Defecation
As Rivers State joins the rest of the world to celebrate World Toilet Day,General Manager of the Rivers State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA),Mr Napoleon Adah, says the agency is working hard to stop the practice of open defecation in the state.
Napoleon who spoke to The Tide against the backdrop of the celebration said the agency is also working with some local goverment areas especially in the riverine areas of the state to check the trend.
He said RUWASSA has embarked on massive sensitisation programm across the state on the need for an end to open defecation.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says over 1.5 million people die annually from diarrhoea.
Director General of the organisation, Ghebreyesus Tedros also said one in five people doesn’t have access to a toilet, and almost one in two lack safe sanitation services.
He told The Tide source that more than 1.5 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases including Cholera, which it said: “is resurging alarmingly in many countries”.
The WHO Director General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, disclosed this Saturday night in a message to commemorate World Toilet Day (WTD).
He added that one in five people does not have access to a toilet, and almost one in two lack safe sanitation services.
Speaking further, he said: “health systems also struggle with the burden of increasingly resistant infections, girls drop out of school, and economies suffer.
“Today in the lead up to the UN 2023 conference on the water we’re launching the countdown to 2030 calling for a fourfold acceleration on sanitation.”
Sanitation in Africa
The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, also revealed that 779 million people in Africa lack essential sanitation services.
Ms Moeti said this in a press statement commemorating the 2022 WTD with the theme: ‘Sanitation and Groundwater,’ adding that 208 million still practice open defecation.
She said, “Access to safely managed sanitation services, in combination with safely managed drinking water services and good hygiene
The WHO Africa boss added that “Africa must work on average four times faster to ensure everyone has a safe toilet by 2030 as the connection between sanitation and groundwater cannot be overlooked.”
She added that densely populated urban settings, pit latrines and septic tanks sited close to waterpoints that draw from shallow aquifers creates potentially serious health risks.
“For women and girls, in particular, toilets at home, school, and at work help them fulfil their potential and play their full role in society, especially during menstruation and pregnancy.
“The indignity, inconvenience, and danger of not having access to safely managed sanitation is a barrier to their full participation in society.
“Toilets drive improvements in health, gender equality, education, economics, and the environment,” she noted.
Ms Moeti also suggested that the link between groundwater and sanitation needs to be strengthened through inclusive policy and coordinated implementation.
“Thus, cooperation between policymakers, water resource, sanitation specialists and practitioners should be increased,” she said.
World Toilet day is celebrated 19 th of November every year.
By: John Bibor
Some stakeholders in Okoroagu community in the Etche Local Government Area of Rivers state have blamed the perennial erosion in the community on the poor conditions of their road.
They are therefore calling for the rehabilitation of their road.
They said this in an interview with The Tide, at okoroagu.Speaking to The Tide,the Ochimba of Okoroagu community, Eze Marcus Amadi said the poor conditions of their road has retarded the growth and development of the community.
According to Eze Amadi,”The government has neglected us, they have forgotten about us, we have been writing letters to the government, both to the NDDC to come and repair our road for us, we are on our knees pleading to them to come help us out, at least they should just dredge the road for us”
Continuing he said”If the government comes today to repair our road, nobody will say they shouldn’t.
“Nobody will obstruct them. We have been shouting and crying that our road is not good, the road is affecting the community economically and socially in the sense that, there is no way we can carry our crops out because of erosion.
“Erosion have taken over the road, making it difficult for us to access other communities especially during rainfall you see people falling down and getting injured inside the river which we call Mmiri Ehe in our language, which reaches our waist line during raining season. Our people can not go to other market to sell their products due to the bad road”he saidAlso speaking,Chairman Community Development Committee( CDC )Okoroagu , Hon. Elvis Nwaobasi decried the situation of the road, stressing that economic activities are being affected as movement of goods and services have gradually slowed down in the area.
” The road have affected our women so badly, they are no longer going to the other neighboring markets to sell their Agric produce because of the nature of the road.
“This road has also affected us in many ways, it has affected our educational system, security system, it has also affected our health system, because with the nature of that road, people cannot access our health facilities in the community, with the nature of that road, people cannot access our school, with nature of the road, people cannot come in and do business in our community, we cannot access the road because of the neglect of the road.
“People are using our road for excuses to come in and invest and do businesses. People who come to our market to buy our products are no longer coming because of the nature of the road.” I am pleading with the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayig Fubara to please come to the aid of Okoroagu and repair our road. I am pleading with the Rivers State House of Assembly, we are suffering too much because of this road. We have been neglected and abandoned for years, the government should please come to our aid” he said.Also the women leader of Okoroagu community, Mrs. Anthonia Nweke blamed some politicians from the area for abandoning the people of Okoroagu
“Our road has been abandoned, overlooked, with no attention, mostly the higher politicians of the place, we have been abandoned for years”
In furtherance to the commitment of the Federal Government through the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation (HYPREP) to the full implementation of the recommendations of the UN Environment Programme Report on Ogoni Environment, the Project has commenced processes to designating Ogoni Wetland as a Ramsar Site.
Labaran Ahmed, National Focal Point for Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance and Assistant Director in the Federal Ministry of Environment, who is leading the process for collection of field samples, said the move will converse biodiversity, enhance livelihood, attract ecotourism and further earn global recognition for Ogoni Wetlands.The UNEP Report envisages that this would provide the Government with a roadmap for restoration and sustainable management of the Ogoni wetland, bring the site unto international among others.Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, represented by Director Technical Services, Professor Damien-Paul Aguiyi said the project further attests to the Federal government’s commitment through HYPREP to implementing the UNEP Report simultaneously.Nigeria is a signatory to the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction(BBNJ) Agreement for how research on marine genetic resources must be conducted and documented, ensuring transparency and the equitable distribution of benefits.
Environment
Tribunal Acknowledges losses in Rare species Across the globe …urges for government Action
It was noted that the choice by the Brazilian government to host COP30 serves as a symbol of the importance of the Amazon. They denounced the current and future impacts of the expansion of the extractivist frontier, deforestation, fossil fuels and large-scale mining. It was urged that the Amazon, with its ecosystems, animal, plant species, and rich biodiversity, natural medicines and its vital and reproductive cycles, should be considered as a subject of rights together with the Indigenous Peoples, and other communities that inhabit it.
The co-president and judge of the tribunal, Nnimmo Bassey, while delivering the verdict, noted that the defence of the rights of Nature is the right way to carry out real climate action and that there is no climate justice without the rights of Nature.
The tribunal stressed the need to phase out fossil fuels and quickly move to renewable energy as a way that protects both communities and ecosystems from false solutions that merely benefit financial speculators and compound climate injustices. The Tribunal also urged the United Nations to adopt the pledge as a blueprint for international environmental law.
A copy of the declaration obtained by The Tide revealed that,Judges at the Tribunal included Ana Alfinito of Brazil, Nnimmo Bassey ( Nigeria), Enrique Viale (Argentina), Shannon Biggs (USA), Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca Nation, USA), Tom Goldtooth (USA), Princes Esmeralda (Belgium), Cormac Cullinan (South Africa), Patricia Gualings (Ecuador), Francesco Martone (Italy) Tzeporah Berman (USA), Ashish Katharine (India), Osprey Orielle Lake (USA), Pooven Moodley (South Africa) and Felicio Pontes (Brazil)
-
News5 days agoRSG Woos Investors As PHCCIMA Unveils Port Harcourt Int’l Trade Fair
-
Sports3 days agoBarca Impress On Return To Camp Nou
-
Sports3 days agoSunderland Fall At Fulham
-
Sports3 days agoBundesliga: Oliseh Stars As Bayern Rebound To Thrash Freiburg
-
Sports3 days agoForest Embarrass Liverpool At Anfield
-
Niger Delta3 days agoTraditional Ruler Seeks End To Benin Artifacts Unauthorized Promotion
-
Sports3 days agoOgoni Nation Cup: Victory Against Amee Base Excites Coach
-
Maritime3 days agoNSC Decries Police Interferences With Cargoes At Seaports