By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
The Journalists For WASH Group Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (JOWAG) has expressed serious concern over the lack of electricity supply to some parts of Kaduna state, a situation they said overwhelmingly affects the water supply and sanitation of the people.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Coordinator of the group, Zakari Haruna Isah, which said, “It is with great concern that we have to call on Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company to quickly resolve the problem facing the state power distribution to facilitate access to our communities.
“The lack of power supply in some parts of the state for about three to four days is seriously affecting the water, supply sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure across the state which has health consequences “.
Zakari Isah explained that access to water for daily chores is almost impossible in some areas where they rely on their neighbor’s goodwill to source water for their drinking and other domestic uses.
“With the public water source absent in many places in Kaduna State, people usually obtain their water from boreholes, majorly privately owned. In this situation, not all private borehole owners can provide enough for their respective communities without public electricity.
“Our concern here, as WASH champions, is that not having enough water would affect the family, communities, and the state sanitation progress made and could subject a lot of our communities into a health crisis, particularly typhoid, cholera, etc, due to poor sanitation”.the group stressed
The statement appealed to stakeholders within the electric power value chain to hasten and find a lasting solution to the situation to salvage further deterioration of sanitation in the state.
It also called on residents to be up to date with their electricity bills payment to help the company serve better, while appealing to well-meaning Nigerians to make extra efforts to provide water to their immediate communities for sustainable development.
The group’s coordinator, Zakari Isah urged residents to ensure that they protect their source of water and always, by boiling before drinking.
