By Othuke Evroh
Clean Potable water which is a necessity for human growth and development is not readily available in many satellite towns in the Federal Capital Territory.
The near absence or lack of potable water is a major causative factor in the outbreak of water-borne diseases such as; diarrhea, typhoid fever, worm infections, rashes, dysentery, scabies, gastroenteritis, campylobacteriosis, to mention a few. To this end, many communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), are finding it very difficult to access clean potable water for hygienic purposes.
According to Lao- Tze, a great sage, “of all the elements in the cosmological construct of the world; Fire, Water, Earth, Mineral and Nature, the sage takes Water as his preceptor”. In the same vein, Tao Te Ching did say that ”the highest good is like water, water gives life to ten thousand things and does not strive and flows in places men reject”. These powerful statements from these great thinkers remind one of the true realities of the significance of the availability of constant potable water to mankind.
Recently in the FCT, Karu and Nyanya satellite towns have joined the league of communities grappling with the challenges of accessing potable water for hygienic purposes. For about, if not over a month now, the FCT Water Board that is charged with the sacred responsibility of supplying potable water to these communities have failed in this honourable task since the collapse of the ”Trunk Channel” that carries water from source to these communities. Coupled with this is the recent increase in the cost of buying a receptacle or truck of water from private water vendors owing to the proportional increase in electricity tariffs and pre-paid electricity tokens to pump water from boreholes.
To the inhabitants, life is becoming truly unbearable and as Benjamin Franklin puts it, ”when the well is dry, we know the worth of water”.
Mr. John Nathaniel, a resident of Karu site, lamented the inability of the FCT leadership to restore stable water supply to Karu site. According to him, the situation is no longer a laughing matter. ” I know how much I have spent in the last one month since this problem started. Besides the cost, the failure of water board to supply us water is causing serious stress and untold hardship on us here. If this can happen in Karu, a settlement that is barely 10 kilometers from Asokoro, what would you say about other places? Morning and night, we carry receptacles up and down to look for water, ” he stated.
Madam Janet, a petty road side trader lamented her ordeals thus.”I buy water now on a daily basis because I cannot afford to buy a full truck load that now costs between N900- 1000. Even this twenty litres of water that was previously sold for N10, is now between N20-50 naira depending on where you are buying from”. ”We never talk of money for food, light and school fees,” she continued.
In Nyanya, the situation is not different as many of the residents complained bitterly about the lack of water supply. For instance, Mr. Abdul, a civil servant that resides in Nyanya phase 2, explained his plight from the perspectives of social structure. ”Our sufferings have increased since the water board stopped pumping water for over a month now. Is it that the fault on our water line cannot be repaired? If this fault were to be in Asokoro or Wuse 2, the minister and water board would have repaired it immediately without the big men there knowing. Now that it concerns Nyanyan and the poor people, nobody cares, it does not bother the government,” he declared.
A staff of water board who spoke on the condition of anonymity stated that the FCT minister is already aware of the situation. ” The minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike is already aware of the situation and is making arrangements to release funds to repair the broken Trunk Channel that carries water from our pumping source to Karu-Nyanya axes. But as you know, this is about releasing funds and in government business, it is not always fast because of the bottleneck and bureaucracy”.
Lack of portable water has dare consequencies on the health and quality of life of people. In a recent report by Premium Times, an NGO, Spring Aid Foundation has embarked on a door- to -door campaign to stem the spread of cholera in the Bwari Area Council of the FCT, in 2021.
Following this was the declaration of the Bwari Area Council as an epicentre of Cholera in the FCT in January, after the death of over 69 persons due to cholera. In April 18, 2023, the Nigeria Centre for Disease control (NCDC), stated that 12 of the 36 states and the FCT had recorded suspected cholera cases in 2023.
There is no gain saying therefore that the recent contract between the Nigerian Government and the Chinese Government to provide the FCT and its environs Clean Potable Water Supply is a good development. This scheme that is tagged ”The Grater Abuja Water Supply Project” is currently being executed by CGC, a Chinese firm, and nearing completion and will boost the FCT water supply capacity by 480, 000 m3/d. It is believed that about 2.5 million people in the FCT and its environs would benefit from this water scheme.
The completion of this water project would go a long way in bringing to an end the suffering of residents of the FCT especially those in Nyanyan and Karu who have been suffering untold water scarcity for several months now.
