Kano’s ‘Brigade’ Long, long wait for water
The five wards of Brigade comprising Tudun Wada, Gawuna, Gwagwarwa, Gama and Kaura Goje are linked to one another which are politically significant because of their voter population. Apart from these politically-demarcated areas, there are also some neighbourhoods like Unguwar Takari, ’Yan Tsire, ’Yan Balangu, Kwana Hudu, Kabarin Racca, Tsamiya, among others. It is difficult […]
The five wards of Brigade comprising Tudun Wada, Gawuna, Gwagwarwa, Gama and Kaura Goje are linked to one another which are politically significant because of their voter population. Apart from these politically-demarcated areas, there are also some neighbourhoods like Unguwar Takari, ’Yan Tsire, ’Yan Balangu, Kwana Hudu, Kabarin Racca, Tsamiya, among others.
It is difficult for one to drive through the tiny pothole-ridden roads of Brigade. A substantial part of Brigade is geographically unplanned, and like almost of the areas of Kano, there are no designated waste disposal points. This also brings serious flood during rainy seasons and diseases during an outbreak.
Drinking water has been a problem that’s been giving the residents protracted nightmare since the regime of water availability elapsed nearly two decades ago. Attempts by residents to find a solution to their problem has literally become a mirage as water from dug wells usually stink, just as the borehole water bears an unsavoury taste.
Alhaji Yusuf Haruna, a resident of Gama, a ward in Brigade, said the major problem of Brigade is the lack of good drinking water, noting that any water drawn from Brigade well is unsavoury and people don’t drink or cook with it.
He said the only source of water is through water carts. Haruna also revealed that cart pushers usually fetch water from neighbouring Dakata, Bompai or Tudun Murtala areas. According to him, the price of water in Brigade is higher than in any area in Kano because of the long distance of the fetching point.
“Such acute shortage as well as acute need of water is one of the reasons why you can see water cart pushers who sell at higher rates dotting every corner of Brigade. Once they go on strike, Brigade is usually the worst hit,” he said.
Many businessmen who sank boreholes in the area in order to explore their business potentials have ended up in vain. In the past when there was availability of tap water, there were networks of water pipelines which supplied the area with water. But since the early 90s, the situation began to get worse by the day.
Alhaji Ismail is one of the businessmen who sank boreholes in Brigade in order to cater for the growing water demand in the area. All the five boreholes he sank are now lying fallow because their water is having an unsavoury taste. “Despite the fact that the boreholes never run out of water, people have stopped buying the water when they found the taste unpleasant,” he said.
It is said that the only saving grace in the five wards of Brigade is Tudun Wada, whose water is said to be fit for drinking. “Despite the sharp taste of the Tudun Wada wells and boreholes, it is the only area whose water is ok,” said a Gwagwarwa resident.
Malam Sani Dantakari said the problem the people of the area are facing should have been a source of concern to the government, yet, according to him, the state government has done nothing to provide social amenities for them. He said potable drinking water in Brigade should have drawn the attention of the state government considering the size of the area. Dantakari said they had been tabling their complaints to the government but to no avail. “Government knows that the borehole and well water are contaminated because of the squalor surrounding us,” he said.
According to him, the waste water from many parts of Kano comes to Brigade and that is the reason why the taste of their water changed. “The taste of our water changed because of the filthy water that is channelled to our area. From all that we always hear about water supply in the media, Brigade has been counted out,” he said.