Ortom’s wife pledges commitment to campaign on water sanitation, hygiene

First Lady of Benue State Dr Eunice Ortom has pledged that activities geared towards improving Water Sanitation and Hygiene are stepped up in the state.

Mrs Ortom gave the commitment when the General Manager of BERWASSA Mrs. Torkwase Ikyaator led the WASH Manager Enugu field operations, Mamita Thakkar, to pay her a courtesy visit and intimate her on activities of WASH in the past two days in the state.

The visit took place at the Benue People’s House Makurdi.

The First Lady said the campaign which has been incorporated into the programs of her NGO the Eunice Spring of Life Foundation would be taken to the nooks and crannies of the state maintaining that the wider the reach of the campaign the better the health status of the people.

Mrs Ortom gave the assurance that as the WASH Ambassador, she would step up activities and impress on the State Government to contribute its counterpart funding in order to sustain the WASH project.

She commended the efforts of the State Government which has resulted in various Local Government Areas being declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) and sued for its sustenance and wider coverage.

Earlier in her address, the WASH Manager of UNICEF Enugu Field Office Mamita Thaka said the visit was to seek commitment from the State Government in order to sustain its campaign.

She disclosed that UNICEF had worked with several organizations to reach about seven hundred thousand people with sanitation facilities.

Mrs. Thaka said the idea was to trigger a behavioural change in the people adding that despite the slow pace there had been a dramatic improvement in the last 6 months.

On his part the Program Manager United Purpose represented by the State Program Lead of RUSHPIN Shedrach Guusu said 300 million naira has been expended over the years and the State Government has also spent about 270 million naira for the program.

He called on the Government to continue to partner the Federal Government in order to be able to improve water sanitation and hygiene as well as make Benue Open Defecation Free.