By Ahmed Ahmed
Bauchi State Stakeholders on Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) have validated six model user-centred designs of public toilets that are female and Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) friendly.
The validation took place during
women consultative session and a validation workshop for toilet design organised by WaterAid Nigeria in collaboration with WODASS and Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency (BASEPA) on Friday in Bauchi
The six models of toilet designs were validated by the Bauchi State government, Users and Non-Users feedback that are user-friendly public toilets for females and Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) to enable them to have easy access to conveniences in their day-to-day activities.
The workshop aimed to take into account all the recommendations and findings of the accessibility and safety audit women consultative sessions in the design of public toilets.
The women worked on the six designs that meet the findings of the accessibility and safety Audit Report, climate resilience and financial considerations.
Wateraid consultant Engineer Ojelabi Mayokun in his overview presentation said that there were variations in the choice of materials for the construction to be inclusive.
“Encouraging the private sector as well as the State government in investing in the implementation and construction of the female-friendly toilet.
“We are done with the designing of the toilets and we have presented the models to the women and they went through every single aspect of it and they came up with little adjustments of the designs.
“We have effected the designs and we are trying to consolidate those changes on the designs”
According to him, “If you will recall in this project, we started with the prototyping stage where assessments were done for public toilets in the Bauchi metropolis
“We also developed two prototypes. After that development, WaterAid proceeded with the design phase where they did a wider assessment covering 6 local government areas of the state. After the assessment, we stepped into the design phase which we doing right now”
“The next step is for the women to wait until the implementation stage where these designs will be adopted by the government and will be built by the government by the government and other private investors” he said
Earlier, the Director General of BASEPA, Dr Ibrahim Kabir, represented by the Director of Inspection, Enforcement and Compliance, Mohammed Usman Saleh commended WaterAid and other partners for their commitment.
He however assures that the state government sustainability plan when the project is actualized.
The stakeholders are Civil Society Organisations, (CSOs) PWDs, Government officials from relevant Ministries and agencies, women groups, private business owners, and WASH Media Network among others.