The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has advocated the establishment of community radio in all the 774 local councils in Nigeria.
The Director General of NOA, Mr. Mike Omeri, made the call recently, when he received in audience the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Ambassador for Nigeria and former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Engineer Ebele Okeke who was on an advocacy visit to the agency in Abuja.
Omeri said the agency was increasingly acquiring and building more platforms for advocacy on development issues at all levels of society, down to the grassroot communities and neighbourhoods. He said a community radio platform will further enhance the mobilisation of citizens for development. Mr. Omeri said the essence of community radio was to get the people involved in fashioning out communication strategies, implementation and maintenance of community based projects.
He noted that NOA had employed its integrated platforms in sensitisation on the new multi-year tariff order for electricity and on-going assessments show that the approach was working effectively hence NOA would utilise the same strategy for WASH sensitisation and other future sensitisation efforts. Earlier, Engineer Okeke lamented the low level of funding available for sanitation in Nigeria.
She observed that Nigeria still had a long way to go in achieving the millennium development goals on water, sanitation and hygiene; hence the need for better funding from government, donor agencies and the private sector in this regard. The WASH Ambassador canvassed the adoption of Good Dignity Practice (GDP) in hygiene by all including the government, pointing out that the idea that hygiene was only a personal issue not concerning government was a misconception.
She also condemned the prevailing situation where one toilet is used by about 300 students in schools as totally unacceptable as it does not allow for proper hygiene and sanitation practices. On the issue of provision of water, she observed that although Nigeria was blessed with abundant water resources, the missing link between the water resources and availability of potable, clean water to the vast majority of Nigerians was that of funding and awareness. This, she said, warranted the urgent need for the intervention of the National Orientation Agency, especially in the area of awareness creation on water issues.
The Director General of NOA, Mr. Mike Omeri, made the call recently, when he received in audience the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Ambassador for Nigeria and former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Engineer Ebele Okeke who was on an advocacy visit to the agency in Abuja.
Omeri said the agency was increasingly acquiring and building more platforms for advocacy on development issues at all levels of society, down to the grassroot communities and neighbourhoods. He said a community radio platform will further enhance the mobilisation of citizens for development. Mr. Omeri said the essence of community radio was to get the people involved in fashioning out communication strategies, implementation and maintenance of community based projects.
He noted that NOA had employed its integrated platforms in sensitisation on the new multi-year tariff order for electricity and on-going assessments show that the approach was working effectively hence NOA would utilise the same strategy for WASH sensitisation and other future sensitisation efforts. Earlier, Engineer Okeke lamented the low level of funding available for sanitation in Nigeria.
She observed that Nigeria still had a long way to go in achieving the millennium development goals on water, sanitation and hygiene; hence the need for better funding from government, donor agencies and the private sector in this regard. The WASH Ambassador canvassed the adoption of Good Dignity Practice (GDP) in hygiene by all including the government, pointing out that the idea that hygiene was only a personal issue not concerning government was a misconception.
She also condemned the prevailing situation where one toilet is used by about 300 students in schools as totally unacceptable as it does not allow for proper hygiene and sanitation practices. On the issue of provision of water, she observed that although Nigeria was blessed with abundant water resources, the missing link between the water resources and availability of potable, clean water to the vast majority of Nigerians was that of funding and awareness. This, she said, warranted the urgent need for the intervention of the National Orientation Agency, especially in the area of awareness creation on water issues.
Source:Pointblank News
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