By Modupe Gbadeyanka
To combat open defecation in Oyo State, the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) has donated some items to at least 10 local government councils, including Egbeda, Ibarapa East, Ogo-Oluwa, Iseyin, Oluyole, Ibadan South East, Ona-ara, among others.
The items comprising motorcycles, Ahuja speakers, sanitary items, were distributed on Monday as part of activities to mark 100 days in office of the agency’s chairman, Mr Babalola Afobaje.
Mr Afobaje said that the presentation of the items was aimed at ensuring a complete end to open defecation in the councils, as well as communities in the state.
While presenting the item, which included 100 Ahuja speakers, six motorcycles (2 each for Egbeda, Ona-Ara and Ibarapa-East local governments) and sanitary items based on selection criteria in 10 councils, said his organisation has enjoyed tremendous support from UNICEF in its efforts to end open defecation in Egbeda, Ona-Ara and Ibarapa-East.
According to him, under his supervision, RUWASSA has drilled solar boreholes in some local governments in the state, noting that the purpose of the donation was to support the efforts of the councils to end open defecation.
The RUWASSA chief urged the authorities to ensure timely distribution of the items to the beneficiaries, saying the agency’s partnership with UNICEF had, to a large extent, impacted the lives of people of the state positively.
In his remark, the Chairman of Egbeda local government area, Mr Sikiru Sanda, expressed appreciation to RUWASSA for the gesture, calling on other international partners, donors, NGOs, corporate organisations and wealthy individuals to emulate RUWASSA’s gesture of responding to the needs of the less-privileged in order to ameliorate their sufferings.
He assured that all the items received would be used for the exact purpose for which they were intended.