An international development organisation, WaterAid Nigeria, has tasked its partners in Ekiti State to sustain what it calls 'Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS)' programme in the state.From the sustenance of the CLTS programme, the international NGO felt that the residents of various communities in the state would enjoy the positive impact of sanitation which included good health.In support of the move, the team and its partners triggered a CLTS programme at Ijesamodu in Ilejemeje Local Government Area of the state, with the traditional ruler of the community, Oba Agboola Osatuyi, and his subjects expressing readiness to put an end to open defecation in their area.WaterAid Programme Support Coordinator, Mr. Ephraim Danladi, who made the call when he led a team of the organisation to Ekiti State, told WaterAid partners at an action plan meeting in Ado-Ekiti that sustaining CLTS would stop open defecation and poor sanitation practices in communities across the state.Three local government councils, including Ikole, Ilejemeje and Ekiti South West, civil society organisation (Justice, Development and Peace Initiative (JDPI) of the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti) and the media are the WaterAid Nigeria partners in Ekiti State on water and sanitation issues.Danladi said to ensure that the people in the various communities in the state stopped open defecation and embraced sanitation, 'all hands must be on deck to ensure and promote good hygiene in small towns and pro-poor communities in the state.'The WaterAid called on government at all levels in the state and its partners to be more proactive and fashion out more policies and programmes to guarantee that the state met the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the water and sanitation sectors.The group, WaterAid Nigeria, is said to be 'reinvigorating its activities in Ekiti State through triggering of community Led Total Sanitation, promotion of good hygiene, gathering of communities' profile on water and sanitation, people's testimonies and developing a community profile analysis to move the water and sanitation sectors forward in the state.'The organisation also facilitated training programme for its water and sanitation coordinators, sanitation officers in the local government areas, the media and members of the civil society organisation to enhance their capacities as facilitators on how to trigger Community Led Total Sanitation in communities.Earlier, Danladi had told Oba Osatuyi that they were in Ijesamodu to learn from the community on how to ensure a good hygiene promotion and open defecation-free community.The WaterAid partners in the state assured the donor agency of their collaborative efforts towards good hygiene promotion and total sanitation in the State.The donor agency started its operation in Ekiti State in 2005 and has provided boreholes and toilet facilities for the people of Ikole, Ilejemeje and Ekiti South West local government areas.
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