By Saeed Ahmad Bappah, Gombe
Gombe State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) has convened a two-day workshop aimed at validating critical policy reforms and enhancing human capacity for staff, local government WASH officers, and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Committees (WASHCOM).
Carrying the theme “Operational Workshop for the Institutional and Human Capacity Development Plans,” the training gathered stakeholders from seven local government areas to overhaul execution strategies.
Declaring the event open, RUWASSA General Manager and Project Coordinator Engr. Muhammad Ahmad Gibirimu urged participants to leverage the session to elevate workplace output, noting that tracking mechanisms will measure subsequent progress.
“It is no longer business as usual,” Engr. Gibirimu stated, emphasizing that all agency-facilitated trainings must drive tangible community development.
He highlighted that the current workshop introduces three foundational document plans: Operations and Maintenance Plans, Human Resources Management Plans, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).
He further tasked participants with adopting proactive reporting channels to flag issues for immediate action rather than waiting for reactive responses that often lead to extensive damage.
The General Manager credited Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya for his unwavering support in enabling RUWASSA to fulfill its mandate and meet benchmarks set by the World Bank and other donor agencies.
He reported that Gombe is steadily advancing toward attaining state-wide Open Defecation Free (ODF) status, pointing to Dukku’s certification as a milestone with four additional local governments nearing the same designation.
Assistant General Manager for Lead WASH, Yahaya Umaru Shabewa, praised the leadership’s target-driven approach, pledging to ensure the insights gained are effectively cascaded to the grassroots.
Echoing this sentiment, SURWASH Project Coordinator Engr. Usman Abubakar Aliyu called on attendees to fully embrace the implementation frameworks introduced during the sessions.
GOSSEPA Executive Secretary Alhaji Auwal Baba Jada urged participants to view the training as a clarion call to support Gombe’s broader sanitation goals, particularly securing UNICEF advantages tied to ODF attainment.
Closing the opening proceedings, the Honourable Commissioner for Water Resources, Engr. Bala Adams, described WASH, WASHCOMs, and RUWASSA as collaborative partners under the overarching oversight of the ministry, directing beneficiaries to step down the knowledge across every nook and cranny of the state.
Participants welcomed the practical shift in focus. Akko Local Government WASH Coordinator Mrs. Bome Caleb pledged to cascade the training systematically batch by batch, while Dukku WASH Chairman Haruna Lawan remarked that the interactive sessions offered unprecedented educational value.
“Dukku being declared ODF was not by accident; it’s a reward of our hard work, and we will do more for the whole state to attain ODF,” Lawan affirmed.
Kaltungo Local Government HOD WASH Mr. Linus Joab added that the curriculum delivered up-to-date methodologies capable of driving sweeping operational changes across Gombe’s eleven local government areas and thirteen local council development areas.
The technical sessions were driven by a team of four consultants; Dr. Abubakar Umar Yuguda, Dr. Lukmann Sadiq, Dr. Abdu Musa, and team lead Associate Professor Adamu Jibir who presented core operational papers to guide the reform validation process.