TheCable

The Rotary International District 9125 says the club has constructed toilets and bathrooms worth over N8 million for female students of Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS) in Dutse, Abuja.

In a statement on Thursday, Goddy Nnadi, governor for district 9125, said the project is focused on preventing diseases and providing adequate water and sanitation for girls in schools.

The project, initiated by the empowering girl initiative committee of Rotary International District 9125, was in partnership with five clubs in the federal capital territory (FCT).

The clubs are Abuja Kubwa, Abuja Prestige, Abuja Aso-Golf, Abuja Maitama, and Abuja Lugbe VON in District 9125.

Nnadi said the project would improve the quality of life for young girls in school, adding that they can now feel dignified when using the facilities.

“All the projects we have done, are projects that will impact human beings. We will continue to do more to improve the quality of life in society,” he said.

“When we came here, the first thing we did was engage. We engaged the school authorities to identify their areas of need. This assessment is important for you to know what they want, and that it makes sense to them.

“And then we realized that the environment was not so good, especially for our young girls. It is a kind of human debasement when you have a lady bathing and defecating outside. There were not enough toilets and some toilets collapsed.

“The project should be about N8 million. The whole project took us less than eight months to complete.

“I’m so pleased that is so impactful, that when they get in there, they will feel dignified, to stay inside, take the shower and come out.”

The governor added that five toilets, five bathrooms 13ft by 12ft soak away were constructed while four toilets and four bathrooms were rehabilitated.

Commenting on the condition of the toilets before the construction, Fatima Muhammad, principal of GGSS school, said the girls could not access restrooms as they were in a bad state.

Muhammad commended the rotary clubs for the support, adding that the girls were being trained in how to maintain the facilities.

“I am too excited that my girls would conveniently go to the toilet and use the convenience as expected for either bathing or the other call of nature,” she said.

“It wasn’t looking good. It was not habitable in any way and not conducive. But today we are smiling. But we feel like pulling out buckets of water and running in there now to bathe.

“The children are already receiving training and sensitisation on maintenance, especially on the need to ensure that they enter the toilet with adequate water to wash and then always leave the toilet the way they want to meet it again. So this is the slogan we are using now. Leave the toilet the way you would want to meet it again.”

Also speaking, Lovina Okorn-Ntui, chairperson of empowering girls initiative and district committee, said the club’s objective was to impact the life of the girl child.

“So, when we got to this school, it broke my heart that the girls were bathing outside. Just in the open and you know, the female is open. And when you’re open and you’re bathing what happens? You can easily contract infections, which may affect their reproductive organs,” Okorn-Ntui added.

“So it gave us concern. We came here, we gave them sensitisation. We did a foundation laying of the project, and to the glory of God, we are here today to do the commissioning.”