By Daniel Tyokua
A firm handling public toilets in the Federal Capital Territory has called on the residents to patronize the public conveniences to help FCT succeed in its investment in water sanitation and hygiene programme.
The Managing Director of SY Engineering Ltd., Alhaji Kabiru Usman, in an interview with, recently said the call followed the need for FCT to meet up with the Public, Private Engagement policy on sanitation in line with Presidential Executive Order 009 to end open defecation by 2025.
Usman stated that since flagging-off of the the project by the Honourable Minister of State FCT, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, works have started in more than 50 sites and at different stages of construction and said a task team has been constituted to monitor their developments in line with the standard designs adopted.
The team, he said, comprise of RUWASSA, Departments of Parks and Recreation; Urban and Regional Planning; Survey and Mapping; Development Control; Abuja Metropolitan Management Council and Abuja Property Development Company, who are the major stakeholders in this project.
According to him, the public convenience outlets would be managed by private sector, operate and maintain arrangement to encourage participation of individuals by creating more wealth through the value chains the project was expected to develop, he however sounds a warning that “there’s no room for compromise to anything short of quality in service delivery”.
On the sustainability of the project, he said, a mechanism has been put in place to monitor how the facilities would be managed and the maintenance of manholes adding that there will *be sanctions on mismanagement.
Usman, maintained that toilet business is one of the emerging opportunities that we should leverage on to help us achieve the goals and boost the economy through sanitation value chain.
