IDPs camps: Benue Water Agency calls for more support

Mr Ella Ejembi, General Manager, Benue Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (BERWASSA), on Monday called for more support to reduce the plight of Internally Displaced Persons in the state.

Ejembi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the call became necessary, following continuous complaints from development partners of overstretching of facilities in the camps.

According to him, there is the need to come to the aid of the IDPs in the state, adding that with access to potable water and sanitation facilities, lives would be improved.

“We in Benue state are asking for more support to improve lives of IDPs in the state, the camp is still functioning well due to challenges of insecurity and all other issues.

“We need these interventions in areas of access to potable water, access to toilet facilities, with the way the population is expanding; we cannot fold our hands and do nothing.”

The manager bemoaned continuous influx of displaced persons from Cameroon, saying there was the need for policies to control migration.

He noted that the agency has executed 638 water projects in partnership among the state government, the Department for International Development, UNICEF in eight local governments in the state.

Ejembi said, “out of the figure, 594 were hand pumps while 44 were motorised boreholes. We have also rehabilitated over 344 others across the state.”

He listed the benefiting local government areas to include; Ogbadigbo, Obi, Oju, Tarka, Buruku, Guma, Konshisha and Katsina-Ala.

He said the feat was achieved with the payment of over N600 million counterpart funds by Gov. Samuel Ortom.

He pledged that with the availability of funds, more local government areas would be covered in the Sanitation Hygiene and Water in Nigeria programme.”

On sanitation, he explained that 197 VIP latrines had been built across the state, while 2,000 communities had been declared open defecation free as a result of efforts of the agency over the years.

He added that the state had developed a draft roadmap, which aimed at declaring Benue Open Defecation Free by 2025.

While commending the efforts of the state government, Ejembi urged all stakeholders to begin to take ownership of donor-supported intervention towards scaling up access to sanitation and hygiene.

He said the agency would continue to play its part to scale up RUSHPIN programme in three more local government areas of Ado, Buruku and Gboko to complement efforts of the Global Sanitation Fund (GSF).