Today is the World’s Water Day, with a theme, “Water and Sustainable Development”. RITA OKONOBOH looks at the trajectory of water provision in Nigeria and why its lack or dearth has caused arrested development in the country.
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s “Water e no get enemy” became a popular hit in the 1970s, not only because of its rich ensemble of African percussions, the sonority of guitars and saxophone, but also because of its rich message. The late afrobeat legend rocked the airwaves with the hit, and few would probably claim ignorance of the song as well as the syncopating rhythm that accompanied it.
Even up till now, the evergreen song has refused to grow old, and its message resonates each time it is played on the airwaves.
However, what is so unique about water that makes it so important to engender development in human society? This question must have agitated the minds of people in the United Nations, hence their choice of this year’s World’s Water Day, entitled, “Water and Sustainable Development”.
Water is life
The common perception is that water is life, in view of its contribution to sustainable development which cannot be measured in meager terms. Agriculture, arts, medicine/sciences, social sciences, and even the all-encompassing notion of existence, usually taken for granted, owe allegiance to water as an indispensable life force. It is no wonder that medical practitioners advise that individuals consume as much water as possible, as meals only contain roughly 20 per cent of the required water content the body needs.
According to UN-Water, a website dedicated to the World Water Day campaign, “World Water Day is marked on 22 March every year. It’s a day to celebrate water. It’s a day to make a difference for the members of the global population who suffer from water-related issues. It’s a day to prepare for how we manage water in the future.”
The aptness of the campaign to Nigeria, nay developing countries, where a section of the country currently battles with water cannot be downplayed.
Water provision and Nigeria’s development
To relate the theme to Nigeria with a population of over 200 million, its water situation doesn’t seem to have improved much. Water provision has suffered a lot of setback, and the reported cases of cholera outbreak and other water-borne diseases in Rivers State and others in the country is a proof that many people in the country still depend on unwholesome sources to get water for their day-to-day uses.
The list of various developmental efforts tied to the availability of water is almost inexhaustible. However, Nigeria seemingly presents a bleak outlook of a nation largely plagued by water-related problems, caused by oil leakages and spillages, illegal dumping of refuse, bad drainage systems, neglect of rusted pipes, some people’s general aversion for clean water, among other issues.
Just recently, Bodo community, located in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, was shot to limelight when reports were published indicating that the community had lost all forms of natural drinking water.
A community with a population of about 67,000 sits atop a multi-billion dollar oil and gas reserve and the people are said to be constantly plagued by the stench of dry oil spillage.
As a result of the contamination of natural water sources, a situation, which has also resulted in unemployment for many residents of the community, it is reported that the lifespan of an average Bodo person is currently between 39 and 42 years old.
In Niger Delta, the colour of our water is indigo
According to an environmentalist in Port Harcourt, Bodo is “a microcosm of what obtains in Niger Delta communities as a result of oil spillage, and much has been done towards providing alternative sources of potable water, which automatically can be said to translate into better standards of living for the people of the region.”
A resident of the community and a fish trader, Agatha Victoria, said oil spillage had degraded the community, adding that the community and other adjoining villages and towns in coastal areas of Rivers State, “do not have water to drink, bath, wash. Water is generally colourless and tasteless, but the reverse is the situation here,” she said in pidgin English.
“The colour of water here is indigo. Our water has a taste of rotten egg, and when we use it to bath, it causes skin rashes and other skin diseases,” the mother of four lamented.
Lack of water to drink in the North
The recent outbreak of cholera in some parts of the North could similarly be attributed to lack of good water for human use. Sunday Tribune learnt that this has forced many people in the region to go to streams and rivers to fetch water for drinking.
Speaking with Sunday Tribune on phone from Kano, Dr Mohammed Ndanusa, disclosed that water from these sources were unhygienic and unreliable. “As a matter of fact, they are not fit for human use. Many cattle owners take their cattle to these streams and rivers to drink water and bath, while many people also depend on the water from these sources for their daily use. This is why many people contracted cholera and other water-borne diseases in Kano, Bauchi and Jigawa recently,” he added.
Burst and rusted pipes in South-West
It was also observed that water provision in the South-West has been so poor due to the nonchalance of state governments in the region, thus forcing many to rely on private individuals to provide the water they use.
“Many water works or corporations, which used to be common in those days, have gone into extinction now. With the exception of few, most of the state governments in the region do not see water provision as a priority, and they have left pipes, taps other water equipment provided by their predecessors to go obsolete,” Mr Tunde Odeniyi, a native of Eruwa, but resident in Ibadan, told Sunday Tribune.
Though not peculiar to the region, the booming business of sachet and packaged water is fast becoming an issue and a signpost to government’s lackluster performance in water provision for the use of its people.
Over 63 million Nigerians lack access to safe water –WaterAid
According to WaterAid, an organisation dedicated to providing access to safe water, “In Nigeria, water services cannot be delivered quickly enough to cope with the rapidly growing population. As a result, more than 63 million people live without access to safe water.
“Nigeria’s water infrastructure is also suffering from severe neglect. Rural areas in particular face a decline in services and in urban areas people are forced to buy water from private vendors, which many cannot afford.
“Local governments often do not have the funds to make necessary improvements and can instead be forced to use short term solutions which cannot be maintained by the communities who need them.”
“I queue to fetch water as early as 6a.m.”
When Sunday Tribune visited some parts of Ibadan, Akure, Lagos, Owerri and Lokoja, it found out that many residents do not have ready access to water, and it is worse in this dry season since rain has refused to fall.
Innocent Onyekachi, who spoke with Sunday Tribune while queuing to fetch water as early as 6a.m., at a tap in Owerri town, expressed dissatisfaction with the situation.
According to him, “It is hard, but we are more or less used to the situation. I have to be at my shop at 9a.m. and if I don’t come out as early as 6a.m., you would be shocked at the crowd you’ll face just to get one jerry can of water. Sometimes, you’ll be tempted to think that some people sleep at the tap.”
When asked on the efforts of government to provide water, another respondent, who was also standing by a tap with two empty buckets at Oje, Ibadan, Sunday Oderinde, simply interrupted, “Which kain government? Mind you, this is the effort of a private individual who opens the tap when there is light, which is usually very rare, or when he can afford to fuel his generator. Interestingly, this is an election year. I have lived in this area for over 10 years and they keep promising us water and sadly we keep falling for their tricks. This year, I won’t even bother to vote,” he said.
“Governments’ taps have dried up”
According to a middle-aged woman at Ojota in Lagos, who referred to herself as Alhaja, people should stop relying on government to provide them with water, because nothing would be done.
“You media people keep publishing stories about the water situation, but what has really changed? Government has failed to do the needful, and as it is now, taps have dried up,” she declared.
As the theme of this year’s World Water Day states, water engenders development, without water no society can develop, and providing water for the use of people isn’t a difficult thing as most arid and semi arid regions of the world have perfected strategy to provide water for the use of their people. In Nigeria, where water is everywhere, one, however, wonders why there is little to drink or use. No wonder, the nation suffers arrested development.
Burst and rusted pipes in South-West
No comments:
Post a Comment