Water scarcity hits FCT council

Water scarcity has hit Abaji Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as power outages worsened in the area.

Our reporter, who went around Abaji town on Sunday morning, observed that Anguwar Sabon-Tasha, Anguwar-Manko, Naharati, Anguwar Wadata, Abaji-Lowcost, Kekeshi, Anguwar-Abattoir and Anguwar-Liman were worst hit.

Residents of the affected areas, especially women, stayed in long queues to get water from the few private boreholes in the area.

A housewife, Zainab Aliyu, who spoke with our reporter, said she had been buying water from private boreholes with a big basin costing N50 for over two weeks now.

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She said though her husband dug borehole, there had been no electricity to pump the water, adding that, ‘’A liter of fuel is N650 in the area, making it difficult to buy fuel for generator.’’

Another resident, Ibrahim Lawal, said he had been buying water from vendors and water tankers in the area, which often costs him N4,000 a week.

“Sometimes, my children even go to school late as I have to go out looking for water vendors, this is the problem we have been facing for over two weeks now,” he said.

He said the epileptic power supply in the metropolis had made it difficult for some households that have boreholes to pump water.

Another resident, Mohammed Suleiman, who said he owns a borehole in his house but was unable to pump water due to lack of electricity, said he also buys water from vendors at the cost of between N400 and N600 daily.

Another resident, Mrs Rebecca Adekunle, also blamed the water scarcity to epileptic power supply in the metropolis, saying many residents have been buying water from vendors and water tankers for over three weeks now.

No immediate response from the council authority on the water situation, which is becoming an annual problem.