Water scarcity persists in Benue

The people in Otukpo and Makurdi have become very anxious in recent times because wells and ponds which they largely depended on for their water need have dried.Mrs. Maria Inalegwu who lives in Otukpo lamented that since the Otobi water works, which used to provide water for the town was closed nearly a year now, […]

The people in Otukpo and Makurdi have become very anxious in recent times because wells and ponds which they largely depended on for their water need have dried.
Mrs. Maria Inalegwu who lives in Otukpo lamented that since the Otobi water works, which used to provide water for the town was closed nearly a year now, people are facing serious hardship.
“I understand that the water works was shut down by the contractors due to government’s inability to settle their maintenance fee,” she said, adding, “we resorted to wells, ponds and rivers, but as we speak, these water sources are dried up.”
On his part, Nathaniel Nbegde who resides in Wadata area of Makurdi, said that the unavailability of clean water has forced his family of four to rely on water vendors despite fears that the constant illnesses experienced by his household could likely have been as a result of the consumption of unsafe water.
He complained bitterly of having to spend substantial amount of money every day to buy water of questionable sources from at the exorbitant price of N50 per jerry can.
Ironically, the water vendors are making brisk businesses in the face of the scarcity while their customers groan.
Our correspondent caught up with Mohammed Haruna, a water vendor (mai-ruwa) at the Wadata bank of River Benue while filling his truck of 10 jerry cans through the help of a generating set connected directly to the river.
“I buy each jerry can at between N15 and N20 to sell to my customers at N50 or even N60 now due to lack of petrol and I can sell, at least, 10 trucks in a day because of the dry season,” Haruna said.
The story is not different at places such as High level, Wadata, North bank, Adeke and many others where residents rely on local water vendors.
Meanwhile, the state government, on its part has consistently maintained that it was working hard to resolve issues surrounding the closure of the Otobi water works in Otukpo.  But how soon this would last, is not yet known.
However, the government, through its ministry of water resources blamed inconsistent power supply, pipeline vandalism and other unpatriotic acts as the major reasons causing the water problem in the state capital, Makurdi, and its environs.