As the controversy generated by viral pictures of a makeshift powder room (public convenience) in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State simmers down, the affected community has come out to praise the Councillor who built it for coming to their rescue.

Vice Chairman of the Coconut Estate Community in Unit 2, Ward 6, Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, Fyneface told Kristina Reports that the makeshift powder room built by the Councillor representing Ward 6 in the Bonny Legislative Assembly, Esther Pepple was a temporary control measure against open defecation in the area.   

He said the project was a transitory public convenience for the community which previously lacked basic amenities, saying that the completion was an indicator that the promised facility would soon be a reality.

“In yielding to the plight of the people of Ward 6, Unit 2 (Coconut Estate) Bonny LGA, the Honourable Councillor representing Ward 6, Hon. Esther Pepple saw it fit to deliver on her campaign promise cum dividend of democracy despite the financial challenge affecting the sitting Councillors in the Legislative Chambers.”

“We, the good people of Ward 6, Unit 2 (Coconut Estate) are in an elated mood, and we join our voices with our Chairman to thank the Honourable Councillor for keeping her campaign promise alive and coming to our rescue.”

He stated that this was the first time a public office holder would remember the area for any development since the creation of the Unit.

Responding to an enquiry by Kristina Reports on the issue of the powder room, the Media Office of the Councillor stated that Hon. Pepple had promised the residents of the area during the campaigns leading to her election that their demand for a public convenience will be met.

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The statement said though paucity of funds impinged on the fulfilment of the promise, she resorted to having an impermanent control measure against open defecation which was rampant in the area and threatening the public health situation there, adding that she had to mobilize personal funds to construct the makeshift convenience in the meantime.

“Our principal understands the danger of open defecation and this was becoming very rampant in the area, so given that the money was not there to fulfil her campaign promise of building them a befitting toilet facility, she decided to construct a temporary one for the main time.”

“It is more about safeguarding the health of the people because imagine where you go round the community and it is all littered with faeces; that was not good at all.”

The statement further disclosed that the Councillor had previously donated 30 pieces of school desks to her constituents at Community Primary School, Abalamabie, Bonny and also renovated the Bonny Police Station as a reciprocal initiative to the society.

There was uproar across social media platforms days ago when pictures of the makeshift powder room surfaced online with several people criticizing the lawmaker for donating such to her people in this 21st century.

Kristina Reports’ checks around the Coconut Estate Community, however, revealed that the project was actually a mitigating approach to a situation that was degenerating to a public health crisis in the area with the growing menace of open defecation.

According to the 2018 WASH National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNORM) survey, more than 100, 000 children under the age of five die each year because of water and sanitation related diseases.

The survey also reveals that Nigeria ranks first among countries practicing open defecation globally as an estimated 47 million people in Nigeria practice open defecation, adding that the country loses about 1.3% (N455 billion) of its GDP annually due to poor sanitation.

Apparently, it is the penchant to arrest this drift that propelled the Councillor, Esther Pepple to drive the powder room project, a gesture many hope will be replicated across the nooks and crannies of Bonny LGA, Rivers State, and Nigeria, at large.