23rd March, 2019
A cross-section of residents of Abakaliki, the Ebonyi capital, has called on the state government to make the Ezillo and Oferekpe mega water schemes functional to meet the water need of the people.
The people made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday, while speaking on the World Water Day celebration.
They said that the lack of accessibility to pipe-borne water in the state had caused them untold hardship.
Mr Sunday Okereke urged the government to take immediate steps to reticulate water from the two water schemes in order to make safe water accessible to the people.
Okereke said that the lack of potable water had subjected residents to unnecessary stress and expenses.
“Water contributes to the well-being of the people so government should address the issue seriously,” he said.
Mrs Nneka Onyibe, who sells soya milk, said that the lack of public water was having negative impact on her business.
“Soya milk can only be processed with safe, clean water, not water from borehole, stream or well that is not safe for human health.
“It is more hygienic to use safe water than water from other sources, which is usually salty,” Onyibe said.
Mr Ibrahim Abdu, the Chairman of Vegetable Dealers Association in the state, said that they depended on well water to do their laundry.
Abdu said: “A 20-liter gallon of borehole water is sold for N50, while the same quantity of well water goes for N10, yet it is neither hygienic nor safe.
“Even when we know that water is life, we do not have access to it,” he said.
Efforts made to speak with the state Commissioner for Water Resources, Mrs Euphemia Nwali, on government’s policy on public water, were unsuccessful. (NAN)