Jahi Chief urges FCTA to tackle perennial water scarcity in community
Alhaji Salihu Adamu, the Chief of Jahi II community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has appealed to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to tackle the perennial water scarcity in the area. Adamu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja that water scarcity had posed serious problem to the community […]
Alhaji Salihu Adamu, the Chief of Jahi II community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has appealed to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to tackle the perennial water scarcity in the area.
Adamu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja that water scarcity had posed serious problem to the community over the years.
He also identified bad roads as a major hindrance to the growth and development of the area, stressing that government intervention would improve movement of persons, goods and enhance the living condition of the people of the community.
“There is a borehole here, dug by the former Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) chairman, Mr Micah Jiba, about two years ago but it has gone bad and no one has come to repair it.
“This borehole helped our people a lot in this community as it was opened to everyone to fetch water, free of charge.
“But now that the borehole is not working, people have resorted to buying water.
“Secondly, while entering Jahi II, you will discover that the road is bad with pot holes, even before getting to my palace,’’ he said.
“Also, there is no government healthcare in the community and when our women are in labour, especially at night, we only have one private clinic in Jahi to deliver. Doctors and nurses do not sleep in the clinic, this causes a lot of problems for us.”
He said in the process of taking a pregnant woman to the clinic for delivery, “something unpleasant might happen on the way and she may die.’’
The chief also called on Mr Abdullahi Candido, the Chairman of AMAC, to come to the aid of the community by providing a functional health care centre and other facilities for the people.
Some residents of the community, who corroborate the observation of their chief, also called for provision of basic facilities to make life better for them.
They called for construction of channels to check movement of water during rainy season and save the community from flood
Mr Abubakar Muhammad, a fashion designer, expressed concern that vehicular movement in and out of the community was always extremely difficult during rainy season because of absence of effective drainage.
He noted that many residents often dumped refuse indiscriminately around the community due to lack of proper means of evacuating the refuse.
“There is no drainage in Jahi and many residents pour dirt on the streets due to the fact that there are no gutters in the vicinity and this causes pollution in the environment.
“We are calling on the FCT Administration to come to our aid by providing basic amenities for us, because our health is our priority,’’ he said.
Miss Elizabeth Yusuf, another resident decried the way structures sprang up in the area, adding that the nature of houses in the community were substandard.(NAN)