By Onwa Ekor
Desperate to tackle recurrent waterborne diseases in rural communities of the state, Cross River governor, Prince Bassey Otu, has approved the release of N95M counterpart fund for a three-year Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) program.
The fund is for 2025 and would be used for intervention in Obubra local government area of the state.
Speaking to journalists during a two-day workshop to finalise the state WASH policy, organised in partnership with Self Help Africa (SHA) and supported by the UK’s FCDO through WASH Systems for Health (WS4H) Programme in Calabar, the Commissioner for Water Resources, Barr Bassey Mensah, applauded the governor for the feat.
“What is good must be commended, I want to commend Otu, for it shows that he is indeed the people’s governor because these are the little things common man can appreciate.
“For the governor, once the approval, it is as good as cash, because he has given the approval, he would implement same and hopefully the amount will hit the accounts in the coming weeks so that we can fulfill our own part to SHA,” Mensah assured.
Contributing, the General Manager, Cross River Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, RUWASSA, Mr. Sunday Oko, lauded the governor for his passion and the fatherly role he has continuously displayed in all sectors.
According to Oko: “The governor approved N95M, that amount is for 2025, it is a three-year program that we are going to run in that counterpart funding.
“We are expecting N95M every year for that intervention, so as we are taking Obubra this year, may be next year, we will be taking another local government area up to 2027, so this year he has approved N95M, next year we will have N95M for other local government areas as well,” RUWASSA GM explained.
Oko who commended the governor for assenting to the Water Law in the state, added that the last time an approval was gotten for such intervention, was 10 years ago, a development which Otu has demonstrated his People First Mantra, once again.
“The governor is very passionate about Obubra because it is one of the local government areas that is prone to cholera. Obubra and Yala are flashpoints of cholera in the state. SHA has decided to take Yala while, the Agency take Obubra, so we are so excited over it, we are happy,” he disclosed.
To the WASH sector, the RUWASSA General Manager, enjoined the team to gird its loins as much work needs to be done to tackle the menace.
His words: “This assignment calls for all hands to be on deck, not just RUWASSA but Ministry of Water Resources, State Task Group (STG) on WASH, all must be in the field, so that the report will go far.
“This also will let the partners to be sure of what we are doing, so we are going to do our best particularly the WASH sector and the STG,” he said.
