WaterAid Nigeria, a community-based nongovernment organisation, is to partner with the Plateau State government to find a lasting solution to cholera outbreak in the state. Cholera outbreak in Namu Community in Quan’an Pan Local Government Area of Plateau has claimed nine lives. Several persons have also been hospitalised due to the outbreak.

The Programme Coordinator of WaterAid, Mrs Vou Shem, gave the assurance of the partnership, on Monday, in Jos at a stakeholders’ meeting. Shem said that WaterAid’s core mandate was sanitation and water supply and promised to partner with the state government t

WaterAid Nigeria, a community-based nongovernment organisation, is to partner with the Plateau State government to find a lasting solution to cholera outbreak in the state. Cholera outbreak in Namu Community in Quan’an Pan Local Government Area of Plateau has claimed nine lives. Several persons have also been hospitalised due to the outbreak.

The Programme Coordinator of WaterAid, Mrs Vou Shem, gave the assurance of the partnership, on Monday, in Jos at a stakeholders’ meeting. Shem said that WaterAid’s core mandate was sanitation and water supply and promised to partner with the state government to provide clean water to the affected community. According to the programme coordinator, WaterAid has visited the community, assessed the situation and discovered that lack of clean water and poor sanitation are the major causes of the epidemic. “We are here to find out from the state government the areas it wants us to assist in addressing the issue,” she said.

Plateau State Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr Idi Waziri, who presided over the meeting, said that the state government had taken various steps to address the situation. “The government has rehabilitated some of the broken down boreholes in the community and is still working on repairing all boreholes as an interim measure. “A more permanent solution to the water problem of the community is to build a treatment plant and reticulate water to the community. “This is the area we want you to partner with us because we believe that if that is done, the water problem in Namu will be addressed permanently,” he said.

Alhaji Alhassan Barde, Executive Secretary, Plateau State Emergency Management Agency, said that the agency, in collaboration with some other organisations, had provided temporary solutions to the epidemic. According to Barde, the agency got water tankers from Shendam Local Government Secretariat, army barracks in Shendam and Catholic Diocese of Shendam to supply water to Namu. “We also took more than 150 bags of sachet water to people in the community,” he added.

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International charity WaterAid to partner up with Plateau state to combat recent Cholera outbreak