The United Arab Emirate (UAE) Embassy in Nigeria has commenced the drilling of boreholes in selected schools and rural communities in the FCT, with a target of extending the gesture to other five states in the country.
The Deputy Ambassador of the UAE in Nigeria, Mr Khalifa Al-Mehrezi, said this on Thursday in Abuja at the inauguration of a borehole project sponsored by one of UAE’s charity organisations, the Sharjah Charity International, at the L.E.A Primary School Dutse Baupma, Bwari Area Council of the FCT.
The project was executed in collaboration with a Nigerian non-governmental organisation, Aids for Women and Children International Organisation (AWACIO).
According to him, the UAE is providing $40,000 for the intervention to address the challenges of water supply in the benefiting states.
Al-Mehrezi said that the Community Development and Outreach Programme was important to the embassy, and that the project was informed by lack of access to clean and potable water in some rural communities in the country.
“This is something that is very important to the embassy, and this particular project was as a result of lack of access to clean and portable water which is a problem in a lot of areas not only Abuja, but in Nigeria as a whole.
“We are building another borehole in a primary school on airport road in Abuja, and we are also going to build boreholes in five states across Nigeria; namely Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Osun and FCT.
“We are really trying to make sure we provide water for people all over the country that are in need of potable clean water, so this project is very good not just for the schools and the students, but for the communities to also benefit as well. And in these states, we are not just doing the project for the schools but also in the communities and poor areas in the villages that will benefit well over 20,000 people,” the UEA Deputy Ambassador said.
He said that the Dutse Baupma project was implemented in three months which would also have follow up, and evaluation and maintenance and that the Community Development and Outreach Project began in February 2020 and has no life span because it would be a long-lasting project.
The CEO of AWACIO Charity Organisation, Mrs. Cludia Okeke, said that the need to engage in the project was due to lack of potable water in some communities in the country.
Responding, the Chief of Dutse Baupma, Mr. Haruna Gyandawe, expressed gratitude for the gesture and pledged to make the best use of the facility and guard the facility against vandalism.
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