Depending on Abuja water vendors

The situation which has forced many to overlook the existence of the water board, a government establishment charged with the responsibility of the provision of potable to residents.The water board, according to some Abuja residents has been lagging in its major responsibility thereby forcing the people to fend for themselves. The significance of water to […]

The situation which has forced many to overlook the existence of the water board, a government establishment charged with the responsibility of the provision of potable to residents.
The water board, according to some Abuja residents has been lagging in its major responsibility thereby forcing the people to fend for themselves. The significance of water to human existence underscores the quest for many residents for alternative ways out of the logjam.  
In highbrow areas, boreholes are the order of the day; some residents in the city centre and satellite towns rely on water vendors just as the rural dwellers depend on streams, which they usually share with animals.
Water being an indispensable element considering its value in sustaining human life is always sorted out irrespective of its channels and sources. There is no doubt that some sources portend danger and health hazards as little do residents know about where the vendors get such water. These water vendors are seen in batches lurking in nooks and crannies of many communities within the FCT. They are always with a mini truck filled with yellow 20 litre gallons numbered 12 to 14 peddling water.
Suleiman Zuberu,17-year-old water vendor said that he has been helping in bringing water to the residents though at a cost. A truck of 14 gallons according to him cost N280 making it N20 per jerry can.
The situation, has forced many to patronize water vendors without really ascertaining the hygiene of the gallons used in selling the water.
Mrs. Mariam stays in Nyanya, an Abuja suburb and patronises water vendors.  She said the least of her worries is the source of the water as she only used the water for house chores and cooking, after which she must have boiled the water.
She spends about N4,000 buying water from the vendors monthly for her household made up of nine members.
On any ill-effect of the water on members of her household she expressed ignorance stating that whatever the effect, her family must have gotten used to it.
Some residents that do not rely on the water vendors usually generate power to pump water from their boreholes or well. Vincent Abiina, a bachelor, has a large reservoir just outside his apartment and gets water from a well in his compound. Most times, poor electricity supply has forced him to be out of water or making do with the little he has.
Mrs Blessing Oche, a resident of Gwarinpa – Lungu, spends an average of N400 weekly on water, a situation which, she said has made the family to arrange with a vendor who collects his money weekly and supplies 800 litres on weekly basis.
Similarly, Bola Gbenga only sees water rushing from a tap in her village in the southwestern part of the country  but not in Jikwoyi, the place she has been staying for over three years.She is one of the two million Nigerians said not to have access to potable water by the World Health Organisation. Potable water is sparsely accessible to people in urban areas leaving rural dwellers at the mercy of streams which are mostly shared with animals. Unlike the rural dwellers, water vendors are usually handy to the urban residents. Efforts of the government, added Mrs. Oche should be geared towards the provision of potable water for the residents as not all of them can afford to sink boreholes. With the prevalent situation, according to Bola Gbenga, a nurse, the realisation of the MDGs is a mirage. She called on government to resuscitate the water board and reposition it to efficiently serve the needs of the populace.