Industrial activities at the Idu Industrial Layout of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, have led to the pollution of the only source of drinking water of Anguwar Rogo community in the outskirts of the city.
The only river that had for many years served over 2, 000 residents of the community in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), has been polluted by some companies operating in the area as some of them empty their waste into the river.
The chief of the community, David Adagu, told Daily Trust that the development has left the community without any clean source of water and opening way for commercial water providers to exploit the residents.
“Companies came here and polluted our only river. We don’t have water again. They wash their chemicals into it and we stopped using it,” Adagu said, lamenting the environmental impact on the people.
The chief described a borehole, recently provided them, as the biggest thing that has happened to the community as they now save money instead of buying water on a daily basis for family needs.
To arrest the situation, PZ Cussons, one of the companies operating in the area, though not named among the companies that polluted the river, provided the community with a borehole to reduce their water-related plight.
The Chief Imam of the community, Malam Nasir Lawal, expressed surprise that only PZ, a company that did not contribute in the pollution of the river, could remember and provide the community with a borehole.
“Other companies operating here are pretending not to notice the pollution. They don’t even know we exit. Only PZ, out of the many companies here, has noticed us,” Lawal said.
When contacted, the Corporate Services Distribution Manager of PZ in charge of the FCT and environs, Abba Amin, said the gesture was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility to help its immediate operating environment.
“We moved into this locality nine years ago and we felt that people living right behind our regional distribution centre are actually in need of assistance,” Amin said
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