Two communities in Nsit Atai Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State- Ikot Esop and Ikot Ukpong- have been without good source of drinking water for many years. It was one essential commodity that they lacked that contributed to the poor health status of the people.
But recently, their living condition has changed significantly with the commissioning of a solar-powered water project.
Before now, women and children in the community used to trek long distance to the source of drinking water located some kilometres away from their homes. In many of the communities, the source of drinking water could be village stream, a pond or a tributary of a river. The villagers were ecstatic recently when they spoke with BDSUNDAY over their plight that has now been rolled away. Some of them shed tears of joy.
According to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), over 57 million Nigerians do not have access to portable water, a development which means that one in every three Nigerians does not have to clean water while over 130 million are without access to improved sanitation facilities.
But things have changed for the better as a water scheme under the Niger Delta Support Progamme took off in the area.
The project was jointly funded by the Akwa Ibom government working with the Federal Government and the United Nations Children fund (UNICEF) with support from the European Union and it contributed to the improvement in the health needs of the community
Pius Ukpong, 80-year-old chairman of the village council explained the importance which the community attacked to having water for use in their houses and how valuable it was to have water in the house.
“Water was like Gold. Before now, anybody who had drinking water was seen as an important personality.
“Everyone now has water within three poles against the three miles before now. No more dirty items in the house. No scarcity of water in any household.
“This is the best thing that has ever happened to us in this community; we used to go to stream with high hills. Adults could not climb.
With the new water project, the sanitation and hygiene needs of the community began to witness an improvement. The community which had been certified open-defecation free also became also free of many water-borne diseases.
The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), program, a voluntary initiative of the state rural water supply agency had been upbeat in creating awareness on hand washing in the communities using tippy taps, an improvised device that can be easily constructed by the people.
It was also at the forefront for the campaign against Open Defecation Free (ODF) which had been the practice in the community.
Akpan Nathaniel Udoh, a retired accountant and chief head of Ikot Esop said the community never had a clean source of water before saying the people had yearned for government intervention for a long time.
“I am very happy about the water project, we have already started making use of the new water project, it is the first project that we have in this community,’’ he said.
Apart from having a good source of drinking water nearby, the community has also experienced improved hygiene practices as they can now wash their hands at critical times because water is now available.
Edinyanga Pius, chairman of the WASH committee in the area explained that the availability of water in the community has led to a reduction in water borne diseases.
“We have been taught the basis rules of hygiene which include hand washing after using the toilets and because of this awareness, water borne diseases have significantly been reduced.”
Evelyn Eyo, a health educator says keepings the hands clean always is keep to good hygiene practice.
“It is important to keep our hands clean by washing them with soap always. When you want to eat, when you have used the toilet and when you have come back from office.
“If we teach people to know the importance of hand washing, the entire community would have learned to keep hands clean and this will reduce the ability of diseases carrying germs to reach us,’’ she said.
The importance of portable water in the community according to Sarah Akpan, a 56-year-old woman leader was the reason women and children of school age had to walk long distances for water, adding that children went to school late because of search for water every morning.
“Water is vital to life, from the kitchen to the toilet and other parts of the home. Life was very difficult before now. Cleanliness was not easy because we had to prioritise the little water we could draw from the stream. Old women whose children had left homes suffered terribly, but now our story is different,” she said.
“They did not just come here to give us water, they first of all exposed to us the dangers of open defecation, taught us hygiene on women and children, they showed us the easiest method to promote hand washing among our children, the tippy tap method. Because of all this, we are very happy. With water, you have given us life; you have taken illnesses very far away from us”.
UNICEF WASH specialist, Moustapha Niang notes that though a good percentage of the population in the Niger Delta have access to clean water, much is still needed if the SDG target 6 were to be attained by 2030.
“Accessibility to safe water can save the lives of most under-five children that die annually from preventable diseases, as most of the diseases are caused by poor access to water.
“We need to do 20 times more of what we are currently doing in terms of policies and funding in providing safe water to the people.
“For example, in 1999, 12 percent of the population had pipe borne water with access to their homes. But this percentage declined to two percent as at 2015.”
At Ikot Ukpong, the story was no different as the community lauded all the agencies involved including the Federal Government, the European Union and the state government for providing them with safe drinking water, a development, they said had significantly changed their lives.
Udosen Emmanuel Ibiok, the village head who spoke while receiving officials of the State Rural Water and Sanitation agency during the inauguration of the water project said the water project came as a dream to them coming after the community had been sensitised on the benefits of ending open defecation.
Nigeria has a huge demographic weight, according experts, despite efforts aimed at achieving improved sanitation and hygiene, a lot still needs to be done.
According to Martha Hokonya, Unicef programme specialist, communities are at the centre of sustainable projects and are expected to ownership of the water projects adding that with the non sponsorship approach being adopted by the development partners, communities are now constructing their toilets and latrines to improve their hygiene and sanitation needs.
ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo
