By: AHMAD SULEIMAN, Kano
A special report by our reporter who visited the local government to see how a whole local government headquarters drinks from a dirty stream water to survive.
In Kano, over 5,000 residents do not have access to clean water.
This has led to cholera outbreaks resulting in the death of women and children.
Our reporter who visited the Warawa Community in Warawa LGA Kano State, with over 5,000 inhabitants in the community, who have had no access to clean water for the past ten years.
The villagers resort to fetching water from the dirty river where the animals drink.
When the river dries up during the dry season, they trek over three kilometers to neighbouring villages to access boreholes.
Sometimes, the long trek is futile because there is no light to power the boreholes.
The dirty river water has resulted in cholera outbreaks in the past years, and women and children were the primary victims.
Some residents who pleaded anonymity confirmed several cases of deaths resulting from the cholera outbreak.
They, however, revealed that victims are not willing to speak up due to the fear of political persecution.
They also revealed that residents still battle other life-threatening diseases, like typhoid and diarrhoea, due to the consumption of the dirty water.
Children miss out on several days of school because they spend a whole day trying to fill up five litres, 10 litres and 25 litres gallons of water, sometimes unsuccessfully.
“The water problem affects our children’s school. Sometimes when they (children) go to fetch water, they may not get water until evening and in most cases, may end up not getting the water that very day.” said Saratu, a mother of three.
When asked about what has been done to solve the issue, Malam Ali, a resident of the community, said the government has neglected them.
“The only time they have ever helped us was when our representative noticed we were contributing money by ourselves to fix the existing borehole in the village; then he decided to assist us with the sum of ninety-thousand Naira. But some months after we fixed it, it went bad again.” he said.
The community is clamouring for the government to construct hand-pump boreholes to end their water troubles. According to them, this will end their health troubles and ensure the children return to school.
“We are begging the government to assist us. This water issue is a very big one affecting all of us. Both the young and old. They should help us and give us original boreholes. Not the one that won’t work or stop working after a few days or a month,” Adamu, a trader in the community, told our reporter.
“We call on the Kano State Government and the governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, Hon Mustapha Dawaki, representing Dawakin Kudu/Warawa Federal Constituency, the LGA Chairman, Yusuf Abdullahi Danlasan and other relevant stakeholders to provide clean water for Warawa Community in Warawa Local Government Area,” they appealed.
