FCT communities decry lack of potable water, solicit govt intervention

Some residents of Gwagwalada Area Council, FCT, have called on the government at all levels to address the inadequacy of potable water in rural communities of the council.

The residents, in separate interviews on Thursday in Abuja, said they lacked access to clean and adequate water supply in most communities.

The Madaki of Paiko-kore, Mr Baba-B Danjuma, said the community was in dire need of domestic water, adding that the population in the centre of the community was over 6,000 using one overhead tank.

Danjuma said the inadequate water situation in the community needed urgent attention because it was posing a lot of health challenges for people in the community.

“In areas such as Angwan Chaiko, they have only one hand borehole and there are over 2,000 in that area.

“If you go there now you will see a long queue and at the end of the day, some people will not get water for the house.

“The stream over there is very dirty and not healthy for human consumption yet people are still using them because they have no alternative.

“Also, areas such as Angwan cashew, Mabo and the axis around Iba road the river, there is very far.’’

Danjuma said the distance to the river was about three kilometres from the river in the community centre, and people trek that far in search of water.

“Some people there are using the well water and it is not even sufficient. People are really suffering there over water.’’

Danjuma said that in areas such as Boji, things are more critical, adding that there was a primary school in the area without water.

He said some of the pupils have to go to the river to get water for the school.

This, he said, was hazardous to the pupils.

According to him, if the school had a functional borehole; it would go a long way to helping people around there.

“Generally, we are really suffering from water here, 90 per cent of people in this community are using water from the stream,’’ he said.

He called on the government, the Area Council Chairman and NGOs to come to the rescue of the communities to avoid the outbreak of cholera in the area.

The Mai Angwan of Dubuza in Paiko-kore, Mr Yakubu Ibrahim, said the area had only one non-functional borehole which was previously sunk by the formal Senator representing FCT, Philip Aduda.

Ibrahim said everyone in the community buys water from commercial water vendors popularly known as (mai ruwa) at a high price.

He said a truck of 12 cans was sold at the cost of N500 to N600.

“These mai ruwas’ buy the water sometimes from the few available boreholes at the rate of N150 but because of the distance, they sell it between N500 and N600.

“We do not have government water at all in my area; our people are really suffering from water shortage and no access to clean water in my community.

“Most times, people and cows share the same river which the community uses in augmenting the one from the few wells and boreholes in the area.

“This is very dehumanising and harmful to the health of our people and needs urgent government intervention,” he said.

Similarly, in communities such as Gwako, the situation was not different as residents are also in urgent need of domestic water.

A resident of the community, Mrs Sarah Ken, said water was a serious challenge to most people in the community who cannot afford their own boreholes.

Ken said to reduce the cost of buying water always, some people resorted to the available stream in the community for washing clothes and household uses.

According to her, they patronise the water vendors more which is not pocket-friendly to the people in the community.

She appealed to the government and individuals who can assist to come to the aid of the community, adding that ‘water is life’ and nobody can do without it.