The many residents of communities in Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State are grappling with a severe water crisis, forcing many to rely on unsafe and contaminated sources for their daily needs.
Visits to these communities revealed that the situation has become dire, with residents, majorly children and women seen fetching water from dirty wells despite the risk of waterborne diseases.
Speaking in videos obtained by SaharaReporters, the residents blamed their situation on the non-functionality of the Lafiagi Waterwork Project, which the state government claimed cost millions of naira.
According to SaharaReporters, it was gathered that a former senator who represented Kwara North Senatorial district, Senator Shaaba Lafiagi facilitated the construction of the waterwork project.
The project was awarded in 2019 to Needs Technologies Limited by the Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority (LNRBDA) at the sum of ₦47,348,567 (Forty-Seven million, Three Hundred and Forty-Eight Thousand Five Hundred and Sixty Seven Naira) as part of his constituency project. But the project did not serve the community.
The state government later claimed that he had renovated the water project to solve the water crisis in the local government.
However, in the videos, SaharaReporters saw hundreds of the residents travelling long-distances before they could fetch water.
Zainab Mohammed, a dweller of Maiyaki’s district, said the state government’s claim that the waterwork project is serving the communities is false.
She said: “It’s a lie; we are still suffering from water scarcity. In fact, this is not my area, I had to come all the way from Maiyaki’s district to this place. I trekked for about one hour to fetch the water.
“Honestly, we are suffering a lot whenever it is dry season. Can you see the water inside the bowl? That is what we’ve been drinking, bathing, and using for other domestic uses. We allow the water to settle for a few hours before usage.”
Another resident, Aminatu Muhammad said: “We came here to find water due to the scarcity of water in my area and Lafiagi Entirely. My area is far from here.”
Aminatu Usman, on her part, begged the government for prompt intervention to avoid the spread of water-borne diseases in the state.
She said: “The government should please come to our rescue because we are suffering from water scarcity in the whole of Lafiagi.”
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Another resident, Fati Nnagi added: “The first issue is water crisis; we are suffering because it is dry season. So many people came from far distances to fetch from the well in my house. We have appealed to the government regarding water scarcity in Lafiagi.”
Fati added that the absence of power supply is another problem her community currently faces.
She said: “The second issue is electricity; we have not had power supply for more than a year.”
Meanwhile, the Kwara State Commissioner for Water Resources, Usman Lade, had initiated a lawsuit against a journalist and publisher of Nupekotvlafiagi, Tauheed Baruwa, for exposing the water crisis in the state.
During an interview with SaharaReporters, Muhammed stated that his platform exposed how Commissioner Lade ignored his duty, leaving thousands of households without access to drinkable water.
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Instead of addressing the fundamental societal issue that affects many Kwarans, the commissioner decided to seek damages in court.
https://twitter.com/SaharaReporters/status/1887508027558838483?s=19
