Bello urges AMAC to enact law to demolish homes without toilets

As the health hazard of open defecation continues to rage in the nation’s capital, the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has called on the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) to enact a law that will authorise demolishing homes without toilet facilities in the area council which is the centre of the nation’s capital.

This charge was given recently by the Minister in Area 10, venue of the inauguration of 12 community development committees by chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Abdullahi Adamu Candido.

The Minister, who was represented by Alhaji Jibril Shaba, Director, Community Development in the FCT, queried the rationale for open defecation in the nation’s capital and decried the health hazards.
The FCT Minister stated that it was unfortunate that Nigeria ranked number 50 in global open defecation indices, a situation that has cost the country millions in health and deaths.
He said the situation was responsible for cholera, diarrhea and typhoid fever which have led to deaths in communities.

He called on public spirited individuals and organisations to help in building public toilets and boreholes to ameliorate the situation. He gave the example of Dogon Ruwa community in the FCT where the working arrangement for open defecation is for all adult males to go north, women south while the youths go west, meanwhile the source of the only stream used by the community is in the North where the males go.

As Candido inaugurated the 12 committees for the 12 political wards of the area council, the Minister noted that community ownership of projects was necessary for participation just as participation guarantees sustainability.

He commended AMAC for being the first to inaugurate the committees and decried the dearth of rural amenities and infrastructure while charging members of the committee to go after corporate organisations operating within the FCT for funding as their social corporate responsibility to the people.

Bello said the FCT Administration does not have all the money for what it would like to do and that communities must take up some responsibilities. While charging them to go after corporate organisations, he said the communities should provide their contributions like labour, while AMAC provides technical assistance.

Adding his voice, Chairman of AMAC, Abdullahi Adamu Candido, said: “It is important to stress that in line with the policy mandate, you (committee members) are to raise funds and explore other available resources for all your development activities. You are to assist government in harnessing other sources of funds for executing projects and programmes rather than loading the entire burden on the government”.

The 12 committees’ chairmen and secretaries were named. The secretaries are the councilors representing those wards in AMAC Legislative Council.