RUWASSA also disclosed that it had provided 62 hand pumps to critical water scarcity areas, especially during the 2021 cholera outbreak, and later on provided 53 hand pumps and 6 solar-powered boreholes in the FCT.
This is coming as stakeholders in the FCT identified some of the basic services provided to the Original Indigenes of Abuja, comprising the provision of a free healthcare scheme under the FCT Health Insurance Scheme, and scholarships.
Speaking at a Townhall in Abuja on Wednesday, the Head of the Department, planning partnership, monitoring, and evaluation, FCT RUWASSA, Danladi Katamkpe, stated “We are going to fight against open defecation, even in the FCT they still practicing open defecation, we have chosen Kwali as our pilot area and our target is to end open defecation by 2030.
Katamkpe further noted that “When we provide facilities in communities, we establish what we call WASHCOM, within the community, they give us members of the community and we train them. They are called VILOM, (Village level operation and maintenance), we teach artisans within the community, they maintain the facilities and when they cannot handle it they report to us.
On her part, while charging the FCT indigenes to take advantage of the free health insurance scheme by the Federal Capital Health Insurance, Folake Folarin, who is the Zonal Coordinator, pointed out that “in AMAC, we have enrolled over 6,000 free health insurance beneficiaries and in the FCT we have done above 20,000, added that they have been able to reach out to the people through the churches, the Mosques, and the palaces.
“I know so many of these Hakimi’s I have been to their palaces before, in fact, the government has paid for these services, like this month now, they have paid and by the first week of May, it may be paid again. So, whether they go or not the services have been paid for. So, we also employ the community to make use of it, once they are enrolled, they can go ahead to access the services, instead of going to places to buy drugs because the government has already paid for it,” Folarin stated.
Speaking on education, Deputy Director of School Health and HIV Matters, in the FCT, Solomon Johnson, maintained that the FCT education directorate is aware of the situation on the ground but the issue is a lack of funds and the population of the FCT is growing, with people flowing into the FCT every day. Therefore, overstretching the infrastructure.
“We have the FCT Scholarship board for the original indigenes of the FCT, like I said the government is making efforts but because of the population people may not see it. Also, renovations are being done, every year there are provisions for other things, and measures are taken every year to tackle these educational challenges.”
Speaking on behalf of the organisers of the event, the Executive Director of HipCity Innovation, Bassey Bassey, observed that the aim of organising the town hall is to give the people a sense of belonging, and bridge that communication gap between the people and those that have been elected or appointed into government offices to serve them as it relates to service delivery.
Bassey said “This is not a one-off event, it is a work in progress, our duty is to let the people know that they have a role to play in governance, they now know that they can summon the elected/ appointed officials that back Serve them to come and hear them. In addition to returning that faith, to the people that power resides with them, we can demand of these people and they ought to be accountable to us.
The director further stated that “We are harmonizing all the issues into a service chatter a compendium of the issues, and basic services issues across the FCT that will be used to engage the Senator of the FCT, the House of Reps, the chairman, and others along with their representatives. (Original indigenes of Abuja).
