‘Water, Sanitation Critical To MDG’

The Rivers State Gov
ernment has identified improved water supply and sanitation as critical to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG).
This was contained in a communique made available to newsmen at the end of a workshop on domestication monitoring and evaluation on water sanitation and health(WASH) in Port Harcourt.
The workshop also identified lack of effective system for planning, paucity of data and low investment as some of the challenges militating against the sector.
It noted that it was in abide to resolve some of these challenges, that the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, developed a monitoring and evaluation(ME) framework to tackle the problem
The workshop however expressed the hope that, the framework will facilitate the development of sector information to support evidenced based investment.
“It is believed that Rivers State is even in m ore critical need of a framework like this, in view of its usefulness to promote the achievement of the state development agenda”, it said.
Speaking with The Tide, the state planning, monitoring and evaluation officer of the Rivers State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, (RUWASSA) Mr. Napoleon Adah, said that the workshop was organized to guide and enhance development of action plans on domestication of Rivers State monitoring and evaluation framework.
Mr. Adah said that, the framework covers health, education attendance, economic right attainment food security and gender equality to promote peace in the Niger Delta region.
“The workshop was to create awareness on the importance of monitoring and evaluation as any developmental structures or programme without adequate monitoring and evaluation may not achieve the desired goals”, he said.
Mr. Adah also said that the presentations made at the workshop were not only useful, but form the bases for the domestication of monitoring and evaluation framework in the Rivers State WASH sector.