By Yunusa Isa, Gombe
The Gombe State Environmental Sanitation and Protection Agency (GOSEPA) has taken a decisive step toward safeguarding public health and infrastructure by training and inaugurating Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) committees across the state.
Designed under the umbrella of the Nigeria Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (NG-SURWASH) program, the initiative aims to protect critical public amenities such as toilets, waste collection centers, and boreholes in schools, hospitals, markets, and local communities from neglect or conflict.
Setting the tone for the two-day capacity-building workshop, the Executive Secretary of GOSEPA, Dr. Auwal Baba Jada, emphasized that community involvement is the bedrock of project longevity and prevention of open-defecation.
Represented by the agency’s Chief Accountant, Mr. Amaliya Bataliya, Dr. Jada noted that these committees will bridge the gap between beneficiaries and authorities.
“These committees are meant to interact with the local benefitting communities right from site location, project execution, and maintenance to ensure no grudges hamper the projects from seeing the light of the day, and, as well, ensure they are well sustained for the benefit of not only this, but equally the unborn generations,” Dr. Jada stated.
Under their newly assigned mandates, committee members will serve as the first line of contact for collecting, assessing, and resolving community-level grievances while safely escalating complex disputes to higher authorities.
To ensure they hit the ground running, participants were taken through comprehensive technical sessions by seasoned resource persons.
The Head of Sanitation at GOSEPA, Dr. Umar Musa Kwami, delivered an overview of the SURWASH urban sanitation framework, while Dr. Bashir Bappah Yaya expounded on the Grievance Redress Mechanism Framework.
Furthermore, Dr. Abdu Musa trained participants on operational roles and responsibilities, while Associate Professor Adamu Jibir lectured on confidentiality, ethics, gender-sensitive handling, and reporting escalation protocols.
Delivering a goodwill message on behalf of the Gombe SURWASH Project Coordinator, Engineer Usman Aliyu Abubakar, the GOSEPA’s Head of Sanitation, Dr. Umar Musa Kwami, lauded the initiative as a critical milestone for securing public investments in sanitation.
Equipped with practical knowledge, attendees expressed readiness to implement the training at the grassroots level.
Participants including Muhammad Nasir Abdullahi, Principal of Government Comprehensive Day Secondary School, Kwami, and Biola Lisias, Secretary of the General Hospital, Kaltungo, praised the timing of the workshop
“This training has equipped us with the necessary skills, manners, and approach as to how best to carry out our assigned responsibilities,” they noted, pledging to work closely with local leadership to maximize facility utilization.
To facilitate their field operations, GOSEPA distributed essential working tools and equipment to the committees, including complaint boxes, reflective safety jackets, personal protective equipment, and formal logbooks for transparent documentation and conflict resolution.