Changing lives with safe water supply: Story of Akwa Ibom communities
Residents have said the provision of clean water has reduced illnesses and improved hygiene practices.
Seventy-year-old Aret Sunday Etuk treks a long distance daily to the stream and source of water supply in Ikot Esop village, Nsit Atai Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
The mother of eight who breaks and sells palm kernel for a living said all her children have grown up and left home and that she depends on water from the stream, to drink, cook and do other household chores.
Etuk said that the daily rounds to the stream which is located on a hilly and slippery land in the village takes its toll on her health as she always suffers from persistent body pain and aches among others.
However, she said succour came her way after several decades of living in the community through the supply of pipe-borne water to the community a month ago. The piped-borne water supply was brought to her community through the Niger Delta Support Programme (NDSP) of the European Union and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Akwa Ibom State government.
Ikot Esop, Ikot Ukpong and Ikot Mkpene are some of the communities that have benefitted from the project in the state.
Another resident of the Ikot Esop community who gave his name as Akpan, said he contracted typhoid fever as a result of drinking water from the stream in the community.
Helen Imeh, 18, a Senior Secondary School II student said she goes to fetch water from the stream even when she was very tired from school adding that a tap is now in front of her house and it has ‘saved her a lot of stress’.
Experts have said provision of safe and portable water is key to addressing water-borne diseases.
According to Dr. Uche Ewelike, a public health expert, Nigeria contributes majorly to under five mortality rate in the world, and unsafe water contributes very significantly to it.
“One of the major diseases associated with unsafe water, diarrhoea, accounts for about 16 percent of the causes of death amongst children. Safe water means the water that is safe for your consumption and will not predispose you to ill-health,” said Ewelike who is also the Secretary, Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, FCT chapter.
Wife of the village head and women leader of IkotEsop community, Mrs Sarah Akpan Nathaniel, said the provision of pipe-borne water in the community has given the residents life and hope. She said before now the borehole in the community was always overcrowded. “The water project has really helped the community especially children who are vulnerable to diseases,” she said.
She said that UNICEF through the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene project (WASH) has also provided hand sanitation facilities for all households in the community.
Demonstrating how to use a Tippy Tap , a simple device for hand washing with running water, she said the provision of the device and water supply have helped to improve hand washing practice among the residents after using their local latrines.
The WASH chairman in the community, Edinyanga Pius, said the water project in Ikot Esop and Ikot Ukpong communities commenced on May 18 this year and water started running through the taps on August 12th.
He added that previously, children from the community suffered from typhoid and other water-borne disease but that with the supply of safe water in the community now, such illnesses have reduced. He said their school attendance is no more affected by hours spent at fetching water from the stream by pupils and teachers.
Village head, Chief Akpan Nathaniel Udoh, said previously, to even go to the village stream was a tedious task because of the bad roads leading to it but that now, the people do not suffer from water scarcity.
According to him, the community has not had any government and nongovernmental interventions for many years.
He called for the connection of more pipes to cover the whole village.
Hon Ibeakor Udosen Ibiok, deputy village head of Ikot Ukpong, said the community suffered from lack of access to good quality water until the intervention.
The Niger Delta Support Programme (NDSP) of the European Union and UNICEF in collaboration with the Akwa Ibom State government is geared towards boosting water and sanitation projects in the Niger Delta region.
The project will support the state government and rural water sanitation institutions in the five states to develop and implement needed reforms in the sector and also deliver sustainable water supply, sanitation and hygiene services within the communities and schools in five Niger Delta states, namely Edo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Bayelsa.
Speaking during a media dialogue in Uyo, the AkwaIbom State capital, organised in partnership with the Child Rights Information Bureau (CRIB) of the Federal Ministry of Information, in collaboration with UNICEF and with support from the European Union on WASH in the Niger Delta, a UNICEF Water Sanitation and Hygiene specialist, Moustapha Niang, said that in Nigeria, only about 57.48% of the total population has access to improved water supply.
He said 15 million rural inhabitants still drink water from rivers, lakes, pools and streams.
Niang said though with good access to improved water supply in the Niger Delta region, with all the states apart from Bayelsa having values above the national average, there is a serious issue of groundwater contamination, either biological or chemical.
UNICEF WASH specialist, Ms Martha Hokoaya, said the specific objective of the project was to contribute to the strengthening of social bonding and peace building among communities in the project states through local capacity building and provision of access to improved sources of safe drinking water and basic sanitation in 10 self-selected local government areas in the project states
She said some of the key achievements on water supply include: a total 206,954 additional people gaining access to safe water against a target of 543,000 in the five states; 224 water safety plans developed in 224 communities and a total of 508 communities that have been triggered to date through Community Led Total Sanitation Approaches (CLTS) among others.
Speaking at the dialogue, Akwa Ibom State Permanent Secretary, Political, Legislative Affairs and Water Resources, Mr Nse Edem, assured the team of the government’s commitment to partner with relevant organisations towards providing portable water in the state.
UNICEF Communication Specialist, Geoffrey Njoku, said the media dialogue was aimed at promoting advocacy for water and sanitation, understanding the link between water and child survival and the interventions of UNICEF and the European Union on water, sanitation and hygiene in Nigeria.