The people of Kaida Tsoho Community in Gwagwalada have called on the FCT Administration and the Federal Government to provide them with more basic amenities especially water and roads to make life easier for them.
They made the call during the inauguration of Water 4 Life Project by an NGO, Nikki Udezue Foundation, NUF, in collaboration with Sir Emeka Offor Foundation, SEOF, in Abuja.
Lack of access to safe water and sanitation had remained a major factor to high mobility and mortality rate among children under five including adults.
This perhaps prompted the initiation of “Water 4 Life” project by the NGO, Nikki Udezue Foundation in collaboration with Sir Emeka Offor Foundation SEOF leading to the provision of safe drinking water to the people of Kaida Tsoho Community in Gwagwalada, a suburb of the FCT.
Two members of the community, pointed out that they had been allegedly abandoned by the Area Council with little or no palliatives with the rising cost of living.
“We have graduate, undergraduate people in case if you have any other empowerment going on you can insert of community name.
When our wife they are about to give birth how do we get to town? Even the pregnant woman inside the car it will not be easy for her to get to where the hospital is. You are coming from port-harcourt meaning you are close to the FCT Minister Ma, we will like you to please talk to him apart from the ball hole we need the road.”
The President, NUF, Mrs. Nkiru Udezue and the a representative of SEOF, Mrs. Ijeoma Okoro, explained that the target was to improve water and sanitation in the rural areas across the country.
“The use of contaminated drinking water and poor sanitary conditions increases the vulnerability to waterborne diseases including diarrhea and cholera which leads to death of more than 70,000 children under 5, the water dey brown, dem dey drink am, dey use am bathe, dey use am cook, na God keep una life o, the thing is that, na water be life, somebody wey no get water, no get life. Because you need water to cook, you need water to drink, you need water to bathe, in short sometimes as your body go dey hot you, you need to just pour water for your body”
Some of the children in the community were excited about the borehole water which they described as a huge relief from drinking contaminated water from the stream.
“We’re really appreciate, we enjoy the water, so we are not going to use river water again and this water is better than that one. That one na any body dey put hand, person dey wash cloth put am inside the water but this one now person no fit wash cloth put am inside the water again. Them dey pupu for that one but this one you see say na from ground direct, e dey come out na this one we like pass.
Other members of the Community urged the FCT Minister, Mr. Nyesom Wike to give more attention to the suburbs of the territory to provide infrastructure like water, roads and electricity.”
