By Chika Onyesi
 |
| Age long well in Kpokpo community |
Water Water
Everywhere, None to Drink
Many
communities in the Niger Delta are located by the ocean or creeks but inspite
of being surrounded by water bodies, safe drinking water and sanitation remains
a luxury
Kpokpo
Community in Opobo Nkoro Local Government Area of Rivers State is a typical
case of water everywhere but non to drink.
Of
course the community could neither drink nor cook with the sea water closest to
them because of its salty nature.
Kpokpo
and its sister communities, Aya-Ama and Ottalanma with a population of about
15,000, depended on wells in Nkoro - Ottalanma for their domestic use.
Like
most coastal villages, sanitation activities around kpokpo community was low
key and open defecation was a normal traditional practice.
They
contributed majorly to the global 2.4 billion persons without access to
improved sanitation and portable water across the world.
This
fact reinforced the result of a National Outcome Routine Mapping of 2018, where
only about 20.4 per cent of Nigerians were found to have access to basic water
and sanitation services.
While
explaining the water and sanitation situation in Nigeria at a media dialogue in
Port Harcourt, UNICEF’S Chief of Communication, Zaid Jurji said ‘‘Nigeria has
remained one of the top five open defection nations for the past 15 years and
has moved from a 5th place in 2013 to a 2nd place in 2015 globally.’’
Jurji
is worried that one in every four Nigerians still lacks access to basic toilet
facilities, with 32 per cent in rural communities and about 39 per cent from
poor homes.
He
said ‘‘while 140 million Nigerians have cell phones, only 97 million have
access to improved sanitation.’’
Jurji
explained that ‘‘only 49 per cent of Nigerian schools have usable latrines
while only 37 per cent health facilities have at least one usable toilet
available for patients.”
As
scary as these figures sound, kpokpo community lived this reality for over a
decade of its existence.
Kpokpo Community
and the Wash Reality
Women
and children were mostly affected by the poor access to water and sanitation
situation in kpokpo community.
60
years Katherine Otonye who has lived all her life in the village said the
community has had several wells before the current one.
According
to her ‘‘women trekked up to 45 minutes to one hour every day to get water for
domestic use’’
‘‘Younger women go to the well around 8pm and
9pm so they can get clean water and we have to let the water settle before we
can cook with it’’
She
said incidents of sexual abuse while on water fetching errands was common while
children who go to fetch in morning either went late to school or fell ill
because of the contaminated well water.
Mother
of five, 32 years old Monema Peters, said they had to go to the well in groups
to keep safe.
‘‘We
are exposed to sand flies and reptiles while going to the well through the bush
path, our children have malaria and diarrhoea often because of the bad water
she says’’
The
Secretary, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Committee in the State, Mr. Ngerebo Dickson,
also confirmed that the community had witnessed an outbreak of cholera in the
past as a result of unsafe drinking water.
According
to UNICEF’S WASH specialist, Zaid Jurji, nearly 90 per cent of under five
deaths from diarrhoea is attributed to poor Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.
‘‘122,000
Nigerians, including 87,000 children under 5 die each year from preventable
diseases caused by poor water, and a lack of sanitation and hygiene’’
EU/ UNICEF to
the Rescue
The
solar powered water project is expected to reduce the incidence of communicable
diseases like diarrhea and cholera and eliminate childhood mortality in the
region.
According
to a WASH specialist, Martha Hokonya ‘‘the project is expected to strengthen
the capacity of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Institutions and provide access
to improved sources of safe drinking water and basic sanitation.’’
Meanwhile the Chief of WASH, UNICEF, Zaid Jurji says
the gaps in water, sanitation and hygiene services in Nigeria are far more expensive
than imagined.
‘‘Nigeria is severely under-resourced, sanitation is
only 19% of the total WASH budget, state funding is limited and there is low budget
expenditure, Nigeria loses N455 billon each year due to lack of
sanitation but needs only about N95.9 billion to eradicate open defecation by
2025 he says’’
The Chairman, Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area of
Rivers State, Eugene Joshua Jaja who lauded the project said with
sensitisation, communities are now building houses with toilets in them and
will soon become open defecation free.
He explained that plans have been put in place to ensure the projects are protected.
‘‘We have arranged internal and formal security to
ensure that nobody tampers with the project he says.’’
According
to kpokpo community members, especially women, life has become way easier with
water at their doorsteps.
‘’This
water has solved many of our problems, I no longer trek from here to Okorotu every
day for one gallon of water that may not be enough for one day Adeline
Pius a trader in the community says’’
Monema
Peters said her children no longer complain of stomach ache and the
stooling
has also reduced.
Despite
the success of Opobo Nkoro water project, many other riverine communities still
wallow in poor sanitation.
This
according to experts has stalled Nigeria’s chances of attaining Sustainable
Development Goal 6, which aims to ensure sustainable management of sanitation
and water for all by 2030
The
United Nations now wants government to prioritise sanitation.
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