Bauchi emirate council blames cholera outbreak on poor waste management

By Samuel Luka

Frequent cholera outbreaks in Bauchi state have been linked to poor waste management by government agencies and households.

The district head of Bauchi Alhaji Nuru Adamu Jumba stated this when he signed the Water Aid commitment card to enable him serve as cholera champion in Bauchi.

The signing of the card also gives him additional mandate to promote personal hygiene and environmental sanitation within communities in the Emirates.

The district head noted that the monthly environmental sanitation exercise designed to check filthiness was not being observed by most households.

He regretted that even residents of Bauchi city who normally complied with the directive ended up depositing waste in drainages and waterways as against designated waste disposal sites.

Alhaji Jumba who blamed government agencies such as the BASEPA for delay in the evacuation of refuse said the attitude was always responsible for frequent flooding experienced in the state capital, with the attendant risk of contaminating available water sources.

The district head of Bauchi therefore pledged to seek synergy with Bauchi local government council and BASEPA to help eradicate cholera like polio disease.

Also speaking, another cholera champion who also doubles as the state director of the National Orientation Agency, Alhaji Nuru Adamu Kobi admonished elective office holders to prioritise provision of water sanitation and hygiene services instead of donating cash and motor cycles to their constituencies.

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He said politicians have important roles to play to check the recurrent cholera outbreak in identified hotspots in Bauchi state by ensuring that residents of their respective communities have access to safe drinking water to avert outbreak of waterborne diseases.

On her part, a onetime Amira of Forum of Muslim Women Association in Nigeria FOMWAN Bauchi, Hajiya Yagana Mohammed Gidado promised to use her experience as a retired health worker and now a cholera champion to embark on house to house campaign to encourage women and children to accord top most priority to personal hygiene.