By Mohammed Usman
Following the recent Ebola Virus Disease threat in Nigeria, the Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Reng Ochekpe, has said that the ministry will collaborate with the 36 state commissioners on the need to promote personal hygiene and environmental sanitation campaign programmes to reduce water related diseases in the country.
Ochekpe, who disclosed this in a statement issued from her office, said that “for us to curtail the spread of diseases, every Nigerian must partake in the campaign process by way of conducting ourselves right in the way and manner that will promote not just personal hygiene but hygiene of the whole country.”
She stated that the promotion of hand washing with soap and running water was part of her ministry’s mandate at this critical period saying that “it is important to embark on sensitization campaign on hand washing.”
The minister noted that most diseases in the country today are water related, adding that, “we are inviting stakeholders to partner with government in promoting sanitation and hygiene.”
“If we do what is supposed to be done others will copy from us,” Ochepke said adding further that, “this is why we are starting the campaign in the ministry with the hope that each one of us will take the assignment very seriously.”
She advised that “people should make sure that any time they used either the toilet or shooke hands they should be conscious to wash their hands.”
The minister also pledged to provide boreholes to reduce the suffering in accessing potable water in Jabi Park, adding that “if every Nigerian will imbibe the culture of cleanliness, I believe that the amount of money spent as individuals and also as families in the healthcare center would reduce drastically.”
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