Rite Place Health Initiative (RPHI), a civil society organization (CSO), has called on the federal government to prioritize the provision of clean drinking water in the country as a measure against waterborne diseases currently ravaging parts of Nigeria in the forms of cholera, diarrhea, typhoid fever, among others.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja earlier today (Friday, July 26), the President and Executive Director of the group, Dr. Chukwuemezie Okolo, decried the poor quality of drinking water in the country, warning that with equally poorly-equipped primary health facilities across the country, Nigeria certainly does not have any answer to the spike in the menace of waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, and other related health hazards as is being currently experienced in Nigeria.
According to him, as an NGO and public health advocacy group, Rite Place Health Initiative (RPHI) aims to address the aforementioned public health challenges in Nigeria in collaboration with both government and private establishments in the country.
“Our vision is very clear. We have a dream, where nobody suffers from waterborne diseases or neglected tropical diseases, and where primary healthcare functions optimally in a way that delivers its mandate to the people as it responds to their needs,” Dr. Chukwuemezie explained.
“Our strategy is captured in our mission. We consider clean water a fundamental human right. And we believe that to ask for all of Africa to have access to clean quality drinking water is not asking for too much. To advocate for primary health centres to have basic and quality facilities shouldn’t be seen as daring if we care about humanity.”
While calling on both private and government establishments to join hands in ensuring that waterborne diseases are stamped out of the country in this 21st century, Chukwuemezie also advised both politicians and philanthropists to always budget for clean drinking water projects for their communities, noting that by so doing, they would also have contributed their quota towards championing the highly acclaimed RPHI clean-water advocacy programme.
To that effect, Dr. Chukwuemezie disclosed that he and his team have lined up activities aimed at launching and recruiting community monitoring and advocacy volunteers to ensure that endemic communities across the 774 local governments in Nigeria are connected to clean water and high-quality primary healthcare facilities, enthusing that the Conference would be hosting the Minister of Environment, Minister of Health, and other industry stakeholders to kick-start clean water advocacy in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general.
“You will agree with me that not even the sachet water people drink and the bottled water made in Nigeria can be trusted,” he contended. “Recently we all saw how Lagos and other States of the Federation were struck by cholera and other waterborne diseases that took the lives of thousands of people. That is to show us that we have a long way to go in providing clean drinking water and good and well-equipped primary healthcare.
“Also, I can tell you that no drop of water can be found at the Federal Secretariat which houses many government ministries and Agencies and that is an anathema and a shame for a country. This is the Federal Capital Territory (we are talking about) and that is to show you that the menace could be worse in other States.”
