A NYSC member, Dr Vincent Chidera, has donated a four-unit toilet facility to the Dakwa community in the FCT to help to address the challenge of open defecation in the area.
Inaugurating the facility on Thursday in Abuja, Brig.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, NYSC Director-General, commended the corps member for the initiative, while calling on others to emulate the gesture.
Ibrahim said that the construction of the toilet was timely as it would help to prevent so many airborne diseases, more so as Coronavirus ravaged the world,
He also commended the community for not being hostile to the corps member in actualising his dream of bringing the project to limelight for the benefit of all.
“I want to thank the community for giving the corps member the opportunity to provide the project,’’ he said.
On the reopening of the NYSC orientation camp, Ibrahim noted that all guidelines had been put in place to have a hitch-free exercise.
He commended the National Centre for Disease Control and the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 for making NYSC a model for others to learn from in the conduct of their activities.
“During this COVID-19 pandemic, we had to suspend mobilisation of corps members. We encouraged our corps members to produce facemasks and other things that will help in preventing the disease,’’ Gen. Ibrahim said.
Also, Hajia Walida Isa, NYSC FCT Coordinator, urged the community to use the toilets for the betterment of all.
“The project is in furtherance of our commitment to providing solutions to societal issues and contributing our quota to community and national development.
“We sincerely hope that this facility will go a long way in reducing open defecation within Dakwa community,’’ she said.
Alhaji Yahaya Ajiya, Village Head of Dakwa community, called on stakeholders to come into the community to upgrade the educational standard of the people.
Meanwhile, Chidera, a 2020 Batch A corps member, who provided the facility said that there was the need for other well-meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of the community in providing other facilities that would give the community a facelift.
Chidera said that the facility was provided for more than 60 Almajiri children who resorted to open defecation because of lack of adequate toilet facilities.
He added that the facility, apart from solving their need, would also facilitate proper hygiene for the people of the community.
“I noticed a trend which, to me was of epidemiological significance. A good number of the under-five children who I manage presented gastrointestinal symptoms.
“This observation prompted the epidemiological survey that landed me in this community and I decided to solve the problems by building the toilet,’’ he said. (NAN)
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