Residents of Kano State, North-West, Nigeria, have been experiencing lack of potable water, especially in rural areas. Daily Trust on Sunday reports that many children can no longer go to school because they have to trek long distances to fetch drinking water for their parents.
At Challawa village, Kumbotso Local Government Area in the outskirts of Kano metropolis, residents said they could only get potable water when there is electricity, which is usually not more than three hours per day. This is despite a 75,000-litre capacity water treatment plant situated in the community. The plant uses River Challawa, where both animals and residents drink from.
Residents recalled that over the years, Challawa used to have steady supply of water, with many reservoirs and water pumps scattered around the community. There are also boreholes, but many of them are no longer working, largely due to negligence by the government.
Malam Shehu Alhassan, the ward head of Challawa Cikin Gari, said his people were in a very difficult situation because they lacked many necessities of life. He confirmed that most people relied on River Challawa, where children usually trekked a long distance to fetch untreated water for use at home.
“I can tell you that in my ward alone, there are 70 boreholes, but as at today, only three are working – the one in my house, one in the imam’s house and the other one at our school. And they can only pump water when there is electricity,” he said.
Alhassan said residents were forced to send their children to River Challawa on a daily basis to fetch water, lamenting that before they come back and breakfast is prepared, they would be late for school. So they had to stop going to school. He added that they had repeatedly complained to the concerned authorities but nothing had been done to address the situation.
“You cannot do anything without water, so as a result of this situation, many of our children have stopped going to school,” he said.
A teacher at Challawa Primary School who preferred not to be mentioned, confirmed that the problem of water in the community was hindering their children’s education. He said that presently, only one borehole is serving both the primary and secondary schools in the community.
“This borehole was built for the secondary section by the Kano State Government, with 10megawatts of solar plant. But you can see how students are coming with buckets and jerry-cans to fetch water for their families after classes. And the water is hardly enough because once we close school, it will finish before you even know it,” he revealed.
Our correspondent who went to River Challawa during school hours saw a number of children of school age fetching water while others were washing their school uniforms. Talatu Tukur said she and two of her sisters in primary school sneeded to wash their cloths and fetch water for their mother.
“We could not go to school because my sisters left home around 8am to fetch water and could not meet classes. Before I finish washing these cloths, I am sure it will be time for breakfast. That’s why we cannot go to school today,” Talatu explained.
Also, Abubakar Labaran, a 16-year-old JSS3 student, said he could not attend classes that particular day because he had to leave the village and go the river to wash his father’s cloths. He added that his mother would have washed the cloths and he would go to school if there was water in the community.
Residents who spoke to our correspondent lamented that the situation was becoming alarming but the state government was not showing any commitment to solving the problem. Some of them said that almost 60 per cent of Kano’s drinking water was generated through the river the traverses their community.
“We have problem of water here more than you can think. Our boreholes were not even built by the government but individual philanthropists,” a resident identified as Yaro said.
Another resident who was coming back from the river said he chose to allow his children to go to school while he went to the river to wash his cloths and fetch the water that would be used to prepare food for them.
When contacted, the Kano State Water Board said the government under Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf was fully aware of the ongoing water crisis in the state, not only in Challawa.
The managing director of the board, Garba Ahmad Bichi, an engineer, confirmed that there was an outcry of non-availability of water within Kano metropolis recently, but it did not affect people outside that area. He said there were five treatment plants supplying water under the Greater Kano project, adding that all of them were working. He, however, said the state government was working to revive Tamburawa water plant.
“When the station stopped working, it was a problem of water pumps that got burnt due to electrical issues. And these pumps are not something you will just go to the market and buy, you have to do one of the two things —either you recoil the broken ones or you place order for new ones, which may take four to five months. And for the recoiling, you have to get a specialist,” he said.
The managing director said the state government was doing its best to restore water supply across all the parts of Kano State. He said government was procuring new water pumps to avoid the problem of recoiling. He also said that as part of efforts to provide sustainable water for the state, government had earmarked millions of naira over the last one year.
“Because of public outcry and the serious concern of the government, a special taskforce has been set up to rescue the situation. The taskforce has already started working, including visiting Greater Kano water plants and regional water schemes.”
But despite this commitment by the state government, Daily Trust on Sunday reports that the people of Challawa community are still suffering to have access to potable water.
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