Otti Moves to Achieve Zero Open Defecation with AIWAP Project Launch

Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti has officially opened the Abia Integrated Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Accelerated Programme (AIWAP), located at the Okigwe Park in Umuahia.

The opening of the facility, to provide access to toilets and washroom, is seen as a right step in achieving zero open defecation in the year 2030 in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Number six.

Otti also commissioned a 150 kVA solar power and 430 kWh battery storage for the Abia State Specialist and Diagnostic Center, Umuahia, designed to power health facilities in the State with solar power and reduce reliance on grid electricity.

Speaking at the launch of the Abia Integrated WASH Accelerated Programme at Okigwe Park, the Governor noted that nine others are ongoing at different locations in the state, adding that, few more would be done afterwards.

Otti pointed out that government cannot be campaigning for sanitation and forbidding open defecation without providing better alternative.

“This is a great project because you cannot talk about sanitation, you cannot forbid open defecation, if you don’t provide where people can use,” the governor said.

“This is significant not because we have not seen this kind before, but because of what we are trying to achieve.

“A few things are integrated. The most important is sanitation, but then there is also reliable and renewable power and of course there is water. So all are integrated here and it is my pleasure to commission the AIWAP project.”

In his remarks earlier, the Commissioner for Power and Public Utilities, Mr. Ikechukwu Monday described the AIWAP as “very critical and fundamental in defining how the WASH sector goes.”

Mr Monday said that the facilities were being built across the state with the one at Okigwe Park Umuahia taken as the pilot.

“One uniqueness of this programme is that we are also integrating solar energy. So this facility is 100% powered with solar energy.

“We have 3 toilets each for male and female And 1 washroom each for male and for female. Also we extended for water supply, so people around this environment can come here and fetch water.

“We also have the rig which you can see over there which was procured last year for drilling more boreholes across rural communities,” Monday noted.