By Noah Ocheni, Lokoja
Lokoja, the Kogi state capital, hosting the great rivers Niger and Benue, is currently hit by acute shortage of drinking water.
Residents now travel long distances in search of untreated water for both consumption and domestic use, thereby posing serious health danger if urgent steps are not taken to ameliorate the situation.
Our correspondent reliably gathered that earlier before now residents use to keep vigil at the tap awaiting the midnight pumping by the water board and where available, the exorbitant cost from water vendors, resorted people to the use of water from the well.
The unfortunate situation has led to indiscriminate open defecation by people at any given space, which is occasioned by lack of water in the toilets. The places of convenience are all stinking and could cause serious health problems, such as cholera, dysentery and other communicable diseases.
Some of the residents who spoke to our correspondent lamented over the ugly situation and called on the state government to alleviate the suffering of the masses.
All efforts to reach the General Manager Kogi state Water Board failed, but some officials in the department who do not want their names mentioned attributed the water scarcity to the failure of the state government to provide money for chemicals for water treatment.
According to the officials, the revenue generated by the board is always reversed to the state government in compliance with the TSA policy.
