After MDGs flop, battle for potable water rages

Nigeria has admitted failing to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) target on water and sanitation mainly because of absence of appreciable investment in the water sector, but all efforts are now being directed towards achieving a similar goal in 2030. The new target is under the global Sustainable Development Goals 6, which advocates provision […]

Nigeria has admitted failing to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) target on water and sanitation mainly because of absence of appreciable investment in the water sector, but all efforts are now being directed towards achieving a similar goal in 2030.

The new target is under the global Sustainable Development Goals 6, which advocates provision of potable water for all by 2030.

Why Nigeria failed

The Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu, has blamed low capacity, poor investments and weak collaborative efforts as the reason for the country’s inability to achieve the previous MDGs target.

A water expert, Mr Seun Ajayi, told Daily Trust Saturday that absence of a proper legal structure for the sector also contributed to the country’s inability to achieve the goal on water.

The minister had called for attitude change on the part of water users, an appropriate legal framework and donor support to enable Nigeria be on the right path this time around.

But stakeholders believe that the pathetic nature of the nation’s water sector requires more than that.

Nigerians, especially those in rural communities, suffer a lot to access water, whether potable or not.

For instance, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the nation’s capital, residents in rural communities struggle to get water, clean or not.

Crab holes to the rescue in FCT

One of them, Ladi Yakubu, narrated how she spends more than six hours at a crab hole to get water in Damgbma community. The tiny hole is one of the several that serve as source of water for the community, a few kilometres from the Abuja Airport Road.

There are days that her five children miss school due to lack of water to cook and prepare them for classes. Some of the children join their mother in scooping water from the holes outside the community.

Several other women in the agrarian community that lose several working hours, while their children miss school as they scoop water from crab holes for their home needs.

“The water that we drink is not good but we do not have any alternative,” Ladi said, adding that since the mechanised borehole in the community developed a fault, they had to fall back on crab holes for water.

The theme for this year’s World Water Day, ‘Leaving no one Behind,” according to the United Nations, is central to the promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to ensure that everyone benefits as it progresses.

Ladi is one of the billions of people who, according to the United Nations, still live without safe water in their households, schools, workplaces, farms and factories thereby struggling to survive and thrive.

“Marginalised groups – women, children, refugees, indigenous peoples, disabled people and many others – are often overlooked, and sometimes face discrimination as they try to access and manage the safe water they need,” the UN said in its report.

The Damgbma community scenario replicates across several state capitals in Nigeria.

Inconsistent supply in Makurdi

Mrs Rose Adanu, a resident of Ankpa quarters in Makurdi, Benue State, laments that since the beginning of this year, the state water board had been inconsistent in supplying water in her area, while the hand dug well they rely on has dried up.

“The situation became worse since February and as I speak to you, getting water vendors to supply water has also become as difficult as sourcing for gold. There is no water anywhere. Wells and boreholes have dried up. We are really suffering,” she said.

Another resident in Wadata area of Makurdi, Emeka Okoli, corroborated Mrs Adanu’s claim, saying getting safe drinking water is a herculean task despite the presence of large water bodies in the state. The scarcity of safe drinking water persists in the state with residents constantly being worried about their health occasioned by the inaccessibility to clean water.

The situation faced by most residents in the state becomes tougher during the dry season, making many of them to wonder if the state government would ever find a lasting solution to end the challenge despite several efforts to do so.

But the state government maintained that it was working hard to resolve issues surrounding the availability of safe water for all. The state’s Ministry of Water Resources said inconsistent power supply, pipeline vandalism and other acts of sabotage affect its ability to supply water to residents.

The General Manager of Benue State Water Board, Engr. Michael Dzungu, noted that it was not the board’s business to know how or when constant water supply would be achieved for every household in the state but that the board, under his watch, had continued to supply safe water for the people.

Vendors make brisk business in Kano

Similarly, in Kano, water vendors make brisk money from the inability of the government to meet the safe water needs of the people. Though there are water boards saddled with the responsibility of supplying water to  residents, people still rely on water vendors, popularly called Mairuwa. In most cases, water from the vendors is not safe for drinking due to several factors including the containers used in hawking the water and the water sources. The vendors sell 25 litres of water for N30 to N40 each depending on the area.

In the state, Chalawa and Tamburawa, as well as Watari water works are the main water treatment plants that supply water to the metropolitan area with a population of 2,828,861, according to the 2006 population census.

However, it was also revealed that the total water demand of Kano metropolis has been put at about 550 million litres but the water works is only able to supply about 300 million litres,  leaving a deficit of 250 million litres.

According to a resident of Tudun Wada in Nassarawa Local Government Area, Malam Isa Uwaisu, the people of Tudun Wada quarters have lost hope in having safe water supplied by the government.

“We resorted to the use of boreholes for years now. Go around and you will attest to this claim; water vendors are everywhere conducting their daily routine of supplying us water,” said Malam Aminu, a resident.

The Managing Director, Kano State Water Board, Engineer Auwalu Muhammad Galadanci, said the state government had devised modern techniques of water purification before supplying to the people, adding that to bridge the gap in water supply, the  government embarked on boosting the supply through upgrade of its treatment plants and changing of pipes with modern ones, among other measures.

Acute scarcity in Sokoto

In Sokoto State, water vendors are also popular. People residing within Arkilla, Bado quarters, Gwiwa Low Cost and some parts of Mabera area in the state capital say they experience ‘acute shortage of water supply.’

A resident of Arkilla area, Malam Abubakar Umar, said they had been having dry taps for some time now and that no explanation was given by the relevant authorities.

“We get water from the Asare water works but for some time now the water is not flowing. We have been relying on water vendors,” he said.

Daily Trust learnt that in some of these areas, a jerry can of water is sold for between N20 and N30 depending on the area.

A resident of Bafarawa Estate who identified himself as Musa said, “We are not connected to the state water board for supply and the boreholes providing us water are not functioning.”

Daily Trust Saturday learnt that water rate has being deducted from salaries of civil servants in the state since the time of former governor Attahiru Bafarawa.

A civil servant who spoke on condition of anonymity said about N1000 was being deducted from his salary as water rate every month but that there is no water where he resides at Bafarawa Quarters.

The General Manager, Sokoto Water Board, Ahmad Moyi Tambuwal, said most of the affected areas get their supply from the Asare water works which is under renovation.

“We are having problem of electricity in the Asare water works. It is operating on a generator and our problem is further compounded by the activities of vandals but we are doing our best about it,” he said.

“I assure you we will restore supply to these areas as quickly as possible with a lot of improvement and even extend it to areas such as Arkilla State Low Cost,” he said.

Tambuwal noted that the water requirement of the state was 70 million gallons per day but that only 52 million gallons were being supplied. He said the Rinjin Sambo Water Works which is undergoing a test-run would soon add eight million gallons to the current supply.