By Angela Atabo
The Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project has inaugurated a waste management facility in Wako community and handed over 14 tricycles to support waste collection in Sheda, both in Kwali Area Council, FCT.
Inaugurating the facility, the Mandate Secretary, FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Abdullahi Ango, urged the beneficiaries to utilise the facilities to boost economic activities in their areas.
He said the project was not limited only to Kwali Area Council, but covers the entire Six Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory.
Ango stated that the waste management facilities (toilets) provided for some communities in FCT and the tricycles and waste management Community Interest Groups (CIGs) in targeted catchment would improve sanitation and help to curb diseases outbreak.
According to him, the CIGs that benefited were selected because of the need assessment and their continued activities in the respected areas.
The Mandate secretary, who is also the chairman of the ACReSAL project committee, revealed that more special projects were underway for some councils.
Mrs Caroline Opara, the FCT ACReSAL project coordinator, said the scheme was designed to address community challenges under the new initiative and put an end to open defecation.
She said the tricycles were given to Community Interest Groups (CIGs) that were committed to sustaining sanitation, ensuring no indiscriminate dumping of waste, and boosting their economic life.
Opara said plans were in the pipeline by ACReSAL to execute a project that would address erosion in Gwagwalada Area Council.
Responding, Etsu Wako, Abdulazeez Usman commended the ACReSAL and FCT Administration for considering rural dwellers, saying that the initiative was a thing of joy.
He pledged his leadership commitment to protecting the facility to serve the purpose that was constructed for.
The representative of the National project coordinator, Amina Mustapha, said the project would improve the healthy environment across the FCT. (NAN)
Edited by Muhammad Lawal
