Abuja community gets potable water — six months after Tracka’s report

BY AYOMIDE LADIPO AND GARBA ABDULLAHI

Amos Alli, Kpoto youth leader, says the water problem in his community has been solved after a story published by TheCable brought awareness to the issue.

Amos, who spoke to Tracka, the grassroots engagement arm of BudgiT, said his community used to drink and cook from a dirty source of water but all that has changed.

This is coming six months after a report done by Tracka was published by TheCable, highlighting a cholera outbreak in the community as a result of the unclean water source.

The community of over 1000 people got support from the federal ministry of works, FCT Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (FCT RUWASSA) and the Inner Wheel Club of Garki district 910.

Amos said: “Our water problem has been completely solved, all thanks to Tracka. Before we used to drink, cook and clean with the dirty water from the stream, but now we are using water from the borehole that is clean and not stressful to get.”

Bintu, a trader who said she is grateful for the intervention, narrated how she once had an accident while trying to get water.

“We used to suffer a lot. We will go very early in the morning to look for water and not come back until night because the stream is dry. One day I went to get water at the river, on my way back I was carrying water on my head when I fell and injured myself. The accident was terrible that I couldn’t leave home for some months,” Bintu said.

“But since you people came and helped us bring the government to hear our cries, we have been celebrating and thanking God for removing this big problem from our lives.”

According to the community head, water-borne illnesses have reduced drastically since the provision of clean water.

“We used to have many issues of water-borne diseases that lead to many deaths. However, since the clean water was provided, we have not heard of any sickness related to that,” he said.

Tracka commended the swift intervention of the ministry of works and housing in providing solar-powered boreholes for the community, consequently preventing future water-borne diseases such as cholera.

The organisation also appreciated the intervention of FCT RUWASSA and the Inner Wheel Club of Garki district 910, adding that a working Nigeria is the responsibility of every one of us.