Category: Niger Delta

Technology to purify water for rural dwellers

The biosand is a simple water filtering technology that treats water at household levels. It involves a household device that has to do with simple filtration process using stones, sand and other devices placed together so that people can treat water to a safe level for households’ use. It is one of the several water treatment devices that are in the market. We discovered that the biosand was the appropriate technology to use in the riverside areas of the Niger Delta because of the peculiar nature of the water in the area.

It has a lot of advantages over other water treatment technologies like the ceramic filter. The ceramic filter only works effectively with water that has been semi-treated, but the biosand filters is better in that it deals with the normal principles of filtration. It is the whole process of filtration. It removes particles, sediments, bacteria, viruses; colour and even remove odour to an extent.

So, it treats water to a safe margin for the people to utilise at the household level. It’s easy to maintain and use at the household level. It does not require power, extra cost for usage like replacement of parts if you follow the guidelines of installation properly.

It is very effective in that it filters the water for up to 95-99% purity for the household to use. The only caveat is that it does not remove iron from the water if it is excessive; and does not remove chemical if the water is chemically contaminated.

Is it affordable to the poor rural dwellers?

Yes. We have different kinds of biosand filters because there are several bodies involved in it. We have the Hydra Aid and Aqua Clearer, among others. What we felt was adequate for the rural area is the one that we could teach them to operate themselves.

The approach adopted by the Partnership Initiative for Niger Delta (PIND) is facilitative. We are teaching the communities how to construct these biosand filters using local materials–sand, stones and how to filter it. We teach them how to install, maintain and operate so that if you cannot buy the filter, you can go to the market and buy the bucket today; buy the elbow and the joints tomorrow then you go to the beach, gather the sand, wash and filter it. Then you buy small quantity of stones, wash and filter it. Couple everything together and you can now be your own water manager at your home.  We are taking that approach now to Kokodiagbene, Azama and others in Egbema/Gbaramatu Regional Development Council.

That is the most sustainable way you can give people clean water. The project we did in Amatu (Bayelsa State) is nearly two years old now. We deployed 11 and when we went back to verify, we found that out of that number, nine were still working.

The two that were not functioning were as a result of human error. We couldn’t go back immediately for a follow-up. But with the knowledge they gained in the first instance, they were able to maintain nine.  They were asking us to give them more because they were fighting over it.

Each filter produces 100 liters of water daily and that is sufficient for an average household of four or five members. But for families that are larger, the water may not be sufficient for them. Our challenge now is the fund to scale up. That is why we are looking for partnership for the scale-up. We are exploring an option with the Bayelsa State government in deploying the filters across the communities in the state.

What other alternative technologies are you exploring to improve living standards in the Niger Delta?

Traditionally before now, our parents used to build houses of mud and thatch houses. They didn’t have air conditioners or electricity. Yet, they lived in their houses comfortably.

Now, we build modern block houses and yet we cannot live in them comfortably. This is because the buildings are not sustainable. We are bringing people back to old technologies that have been improved; using sustainable methods so that power consumption can be minimised. Power, an essential commodity, is almost non-existent in Nigeria today.

We are building a house in our office (Ubeji-Warri, Delta State) and we want to use it as a showcase for the new trend in building; using hyrdaform blocks. It is interlocking and uses 95% laterite and just five per cent cement. The structure is very solid and strong.

It is sustainable because it doesn’t allow heat transfer. It keeps the heat out and you don’t have to depend on electricity to cool the internal structure of the building. The roof is going to have long overhang so that the walls will be protected from direct rays and direct sun impact.

There is also the chorker oven whose implementation I just finished in Fish Town. Prior to now, we have been working with KEFES RDC, one of the regional councils with a Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) signed with Chevron. What does it do? It increases the capacity of women to dry more fish, better and faster using less wood. This minimises deforestation.

It will help the women to have latitude in increasing their income because the traditional oven they use can hardly dry more than 20kg of fish. But the chorker oven, if effectively used and managed, can dry a minimum of 500kg of fish per drying session and it dries it faster than the normal one. This is because it maximises the heat output that the wood generates.

We are developing technologies that are efficient and effective so that incomes of people, especially the women in the Niger Delta, will be enhanced. That is what ATED is doing. We are focusing on the youth and women of the Niger Delta.

The chorker oven is very simple. If you have seen women who fry garri, the earth they use in frying the garri maximises the heat. It is the same technology we are adopting with the chorker oven. It is the same approach we are using to dry fish with multiple trays in higher capacity.

So, the people can build it themselves. We will just facilitate it; teach them how to do it so that they don’t come tomorrow to look for someone to teach them how to do it. We have trained four artisans (two carpenters and masons) already in Fish Town on how to build it. We will be following up to see how they progress with it. We will organise packaging and business management training for the women so that they can run it concurrently because technology without capacity is not sustainable.

Using soak away pit as source of cooking gas

That is the bio-digester. It is a simple technology that harnesses biological products by decomposing them under anaerobic condition and treating the gasses produced and extracting the consumable ones into use for powering electricity and generating cooking gas for use at home.

It digests food wastes, human wastes; it harnesses water hyacinth to decompose under controlled condition.

This technology too is affordable. In India, they have various models that the rural dwellers use. There are also complex and simple ones. All you need to do is look for the one that is suitable for the class of people you want to introduce it to. The simple ones are the ones we will learn and teach them how to use them. There are specialised containers for carrying gas. There are other simpler methods. Like the GP tanks in different sizes, you can cut and harness.

What role should government play to bring technology to the grassroots?

Government can support PIND and other interested actors in the sector in making it happen because it has the wherewithal to make things happen. Government can partner with organisations and remove import duties for some of these items or those used to build the technology here. This is because this can help low income earners. People who cannot get the imported ones can get the locally-replicated ones. We have research institutes; government should help them concentrate on technologies that provide solutions to daily challenges of people.

Technology should be aimed at providing succour and improving lives and enhancing income. We partnered with Nigeria Institute for Palm Oil Research (NIFOR) to develop and promote the technology they had on their shelves to reach people with small-scale palm oil processing equipment.

We worked with them and today, it is working in Ezeosu (Imo State). What interests the ordinary man is how technology could better his life. That is the solution PIND wants to provide.

Agriculture used to be the mainstay of the Nigerian economy. Now, things have changed and Nigeria is battling to feed itself. Where did we get it wrong?

We got it wrong from leadership. The success of every nation is determined from the vision of its leaders. Over time, we have had leaders who do not see agriculture as being useful as the mainstay of the economy where emphasis and focus should be despite the fact that it accounts for 42 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product. For the past 53 years, nothing else has shown very high optimal curves in terms of GDP output from agriculture. There has been no effort by any of our past leaders to put up what we call one community, one product. For example to sustain the African Timber and Plywood in Sapele, to sustain things that have to do with rubber, to resuscitate the 487,000 standing palm trees between Osmoton, Oron to Ilelarinmirin in River State and Obinze in Imo State. None of our leaders deemed it fit that the over 300,000 hectares of farmland should be left between Yobe, Borno, Marte, Potiskum and Sokoto cash crops such as cotton, sorghum and maize  and divide our country by geo-political zones where for us to grow the crops that nature has given to us. There are 15,000 textile firms in India and not even a destitute in that country is unclothed. In Nigeria, we do not have up to six functional firms in the country. As we speak today, all the textile firms in Kaduna are moribund, same with the ones in Kano. We only have skeletal services in Ibadan and Lagos. If man must eat, clothe and get decent housing, the most important after food security is clothing because you cannot go naked. That alone would have provided us about 27 percent of labour output. If we are growing cotton, we will have ginnery working, there will be those doing the spinning, artist will be designing. It is that bad that 25 years ago, China was nowhere near us. The GDP of this country was far better than countries in South East Asia because we were on top. But every year, we keep deteriorating and this goes back to the fact that a country of this nature has not put much emphasis on agriculture, human capacity building. A nation that failed to give adequate food to its citizens has lost 26 per cent of its citizens’ active potentiality. If something is worse than corruption, it is excessive importation of food by any nation. As we import, we eat N2 billion worth of rice everyday and what that means is that we give that amount to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Just imagine putting N2 billion daily into rice production here. That means there will be a beehive of activities in Pategi, Bansara, Cross Rivers State and Juma’are in Jigawa State. With such activities, who will have time to come and tell you that he is Boko Haram or insecurity and kidnapping. If you want to see the best of Nigerians, keep them busy on the field and that is where we got it wrong. We spent about N12 billion on the importation of fish and other sea food into the country. Chinese come here with their fishing trollies and go 12,000 nautical miles away from our shores, get the fish, clean it up with formalin, take the good ones to their place and bring us the ones they reject. This whole thing has to do with vision and reawakening. A man who has failed to realise what he should be is a man who has accepted failure as his way of life.

The Jonathan administration established the Growth Enhancement Scheme aimed at encouraging increased agricultural production.

You have to give it to this administration. They might look slow, but I see every programme with all intents and purposes of getting it fulfilled. When a man gets into a house without windows and roof, it takes time for that house to become habitable. People might say there is a man living in an uncompleted house. That is the position I see President Jonathan because he inherited an uncompleted house and a lot of people see him as a mad man. One thing we should not forget is that there has been administration that has given credence to agricultural development like this one. But he cannot be in Abuja and Sokoto at the same time, he cannot be in Abuja and be in Enugu or be in Ibadan. Now we have a Minister of Agriculture that is a square peg in a square hole and know what he is doing. But the implementation of these policies should be left in the hands of the governors. If the governors don’t cue into these programmes, every decision taken is nonsense and

will not go anywhere. We have a president that whatever you put to him that has to do with food security, he takes it very serious. The only place I think there should be improvement is that President Jonathan should begin to challenge the states to begin to come up with their own programmes that is compatible with what is available there. For example, Sokoto state should begin to give Nigeria the onions they are known for and have in abundance because of the Goroyo dam. Kano state should tap into the old Audu Bako programme and start producing what is exportable, while the federal government will do the collaboration and celebration. With that, competition can be created among the states. In terms of policies, they are fantastic, but they are not being implemented to the later. The President should bring back the Agricultural Support Centre to replace the agricultural development centres so that our rural dwellers can have a place to go and make

enquiry and know the proper pricing and proper practice. Agriculture in Nigeria is still practiced in the wood. There has to be a bridge in communication and transfer of technology. Today, having given us GSM, we should be able to go to any level in terms of agriculture and technology.

It is believed that Nigeria produce so much food which are lost annually. How do you think this can be curtailed?

Yes, post-harvest loss is very high in Nigeria. Thirty- three thousand metric tonnes of oranges are wasted in Benue state alone every year, while 287,000 metric tonnes of tomatoes are wasted between Biliri, Dadin Kowa, Kura and Hunkuyi annually for the simple reason that there are no processing plants. Since the death of Vegfu tomatoes in Gombe, all our tomatoes are wasted. After 53 years of independence as a nation, we still carry tomatoes in basket made from Ebonyi or Enugu as a unit of measurement. It is crazy and shows that we are backward. When maize are harvested, our women still has to use hand to trash them. So, when you being to have small cottage industries within our rural communities to support what they are growing, agricultural production will increase and post-harvest losses will reduce and that is what makes sense and that is what it should be. From where the President came from, we can grow rice that will feed this country all year round. They grow rice all year round, but that potential has not been tapped. So, there has to be a total rediscovery of our environment and there has to be a total remapping of our agricultural programme in this country which has not been done since 1976. A nation that has failed to plan, has planed to fail.

The Obasanjo government launched the cotton rebirth programme to encourage cotton production in the country. But that scheme seems to have died.

The cotton rebirth programme died immediately it was launched at the Murtala Square here in Kaduna. It was a fantastic programme which never saw the light of day. Samaru 76 was the oldest cotton seed that we have been using. But cotton has grown above that. There has to be research and development, you need to get back the confidence of those who lost money investing in agricultural development; you need to revive the various cotton production areas. But this was not done and everything ended immediately after that ceremony. One thing that is importance is that President Jonathan has gone beyond workshops and seminars and adding action to what he has done. If for nothing else, the face of agriculture will change with the commissioning and handing over of the power sector to private investors. Dam owners will now be able to operate their dams and invest in agriculture all year round, cottage industries will spring up and we will have light to process the cassava chips and all that. I believe there is a bright future and Nigeria will take back its place. I see that as the only thing that could spring agriculture back to its original position in the country.

In spite of the mass production of cassava, the cassava initiative also failed.

Yes. The cassava initiative was bound to fail. I disagree with the Minister of agriculture on cassava. What it takes to look after cassava is the same thing it takes you to look after a pregnant woman for nine month. It is a nine month old crop which is not bankable and so, that should not be where we should put our attention. The focus should be on crops that Nigerians consume on a daily basis such as beans, rice and maize. 29,000 metric tonne of beans is consumed in Lagos and Ibadan every two days. Since Yobe and Borno states have been in turmoil, we have been bringing beans from Burkina Faso to supplement our beans requirement. This is an area we could go into and not long time crops. Cassava has failed in Nigeria. In fact, this is the fourth time it is failing in Nigeria. Must we be promoting a child is that always failing in the class?

In the past, we had what was called school-to-land programmes which we no longer have. What happened to that programme?

Melford Okilo adopted the school to land programme in Rivers State and a few other states too followed suit. But those facilities decayed over time. What brought us to where we are today is inconsistency of policies. Once the vision is not yours, you kill it immediately you come into office without looking at the positive aspect of it.

We keep talking about government. What is the contribution of the private sector in all this?

The Obasanjo government and now the Jonathan government have give windows of opportunity for the private sector to take their seat. With the recent happening with the GENCOs and DISCOs in the power sector, I think that the government has realised that they have no business being in business.

 

“I have a family of eight and every day I move almost 2 km with my children on a cart to get water for domestic use,” lamented Malam Aliyu in Dange-Shuni, a few kilometers away from Sokoto metropolis. “We are used to these movements. But we hope that one day we will get a source of water closer to us so that this long distance trek will be reduced.”

At the seat of Caliphate itself, the agony is worse. Sourcing water for family use has remained a challenge that successive governments in the state have been unable to resolve.

This is so partly because of the growing public demand for social amenities in view of increasing population and environmental exigencies. This peculiarity over the years, has placed Sokoto State on the path of serious challenges especially on water supply and environmental sanitation.

History has shown that due to its desert nature, Sokoto has been confronted with inadequate water supply to meet the demand of the public particularly within the metropolis.

It is a widespread phenomenon that reflects a comparatively difficult experience among its people both at its urban and rural settlements.

Inhabitants of some communities search long and hard across great distances to find water from streams and ponds, only very few residents managing to get water from deep concrete wells.

Moreso, the state had been managing with the old water works constructed with a capacity of seven million gallons per day which later could not satisfy the demand of the public even as its supply is limited to highly populated parts of the city.

To ameliorate the water situation, the state government constructed 24 boreholes to serve the parliamentary quarters, Arkillan Liman, Tudun Wada, Minnanata, Gidan Igwai and Arkilla low-cost respectively.

With a current average demand of 62 million gallons per day supply to the capital city and its environs, the state has only been able to meet 52 million gallons per day.

Accordingly, the nature of its waters has been pegged to be the most muddy and deepened level in the country. This makes the demand continue to rise progressively as both domestic and industrial users of the utility especially within the metropolis are increasing and without commensurate supply.

For example block making factories, satchet water manufacturers, car wash outlets and residents Often times resort to water vendors.

According to a source: “In the 19th century, some of the earliest settlers of Rikina town now in Dange/Shuni local government had to migrate to other localities, communities with comparative edge over them in terms of water supply to settle.”

However, the situation became so critical that taps were not running for about 2 to 3 years in some places within the metropolis for concentration, water level deep and nature of the water also occasioned by poor reticulation and broken pipes, creating scarcity and chance to mostly Tuareg water vendors from neighbouring Niger republic to hawk around the utility in jericans for sale at between N25, N30 per jerrycans.

In areas like Mabera, Minnanata, Tudun Wada and Arkilla, residents most times fall back on water vendors as alternative to carry out their domestic activities.

The expansion in recent time of the state water plants by the Governor Aliyu Wamakko’s administration was borne out of the immediate and necessary need to upgrade facilities and increase supply to overcome the long problem of inadequate water supply to the metropolis and its environs.

This led to the inauguration of a task force on water supply chaired by Alhaji Muhammad Namadina Abdurahman which advised the government on the need to initiate the Asare water plant project with a capacity of 20 million gallons per day to supplement the existing 32 million gallons water plant.

The Asare water plant, commissioned by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in September this year, is an extension located on the outskirts to serve areas not previously covered as Bado, Arkilla, Kwannawa among others on daily basis.

This challenge has also raised questions on the standards of the general environment and sanitary behaviour of people in the state, both very poor in some areas within the metropolis.

Most areas need waste disposal facilities, for in many places, residents still evacuate their waste indiscrimnately, even on the road.

Most affected by the old habits are: Rijiyan Dorowa, Aliyu Jodi, parts of Emir Yahaya, Tudun Wada and Mabera areas.

These unhygienic habits of refuse and liquid waste disposal have been responsible for deadly diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, enteritis, among other water-borne diseases.

A resident who prefered not to be named said: “We are used to dumping refuse here because we don’t have a bunker located around us and we have no other alternative.”

Despite the fact that the state government constructed 100 bunkers and liquid waste disposal points, the situation remains unchanged.

Governor Aliyu Wamakko, Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad , Deputy Governor Mukhtari Shagari and other personalities including senior councilors in the Sultanate joined in demonstrating the needed commitment to keep a healthy and hygienic environment by practically getting involved in the sanitation exercise.

This is largely due to the absence of efficient and effective enforcement of sanitation laws despite efforts by the state government to mitigate the menace of littering cellophane and related waste materials.

The state government provided motorised waste evacuation vehicles in addition to setting aside the last Saturday of every month for general clean-up.

Crisis is brewing between Akwa Ibom State government and the people of Urua Ntia Village in Eniong Offot community in Uyo Local Government Area over alleged encroachment on the community’s land by the state government.

The villagers took to the streets in protest of “some of the fraudulent acts by government officials attached to the Ministry of Lands and Town Planning.”

The villagers carried placards which had various inscriptions, even as they appealed to the state government to come to their aid in ensuring that their remaining parcels of land are not taken away.

According to them, officials of the ministry were fond of moving into their community to allot and sell lands to people. The people described the officials’ claim that Eniong land has been taken over by government as a subterfuge.

The spokesman for Eniong community, Patrick Edet, warned the ministry officials to desist from trespassing on their land as the right of occupancy of the land was not revoked in year 2,000 as claimed by Ministry of Lands and Town Planning recently in a report published in one of the national dailies.

The state government had, recently described as fraudulent and criminal the re-occupation of land by former owners after collecting compensation.

Commissioner for Lands and Town Planning Obong Eno Akpan said the expiration of the tenure of the previous administration that acquired and paid compensation for the land did not mean the end of government.

A committee investigating activities in government estates in Eniong Offot, Anua Offot, Use Offot and Ifa Ikot Okpon had indicted some persons of selling government land while others prevented surveyors from performing their duties.

Edet, who is also a community leader in Eniong community, said that since 1979, the villagers had willingly given land out to government.

Edet said: “On page 23 of The Punch newspaper of Thursday, January 27, 2000, an advertorial by Akwa Ibom State government was published naming the places which government revoked rights of occupancy from land owners and Eniong was not included.

“Government acquired land at Ifa Ikot Okpon and paid compensation and nobody enters there.  In the allotment papers issued to beneficiaries of government lands, no mention is made of land in Urua Ntia Village in Eniong Offot.

“There was no revocation order on this land from government. So, government has not taken this land (as purported).  They should not rubbish this government.”

Edet appealed to government to set up an unbiased committee to unearth the truth about the purported acquisition of Eniong land by government.

In his speech, Eteidung Patrick, village head of Urua Ntia said: “Government took Annua and Ifa Ikot Okpon lands not land in Urua Ntia Village which I am the village head.

“I appeal to Governor Godswill Akpabio to save me from the hands of thieves who sold this (Urua Ntia) land mindless of the boundaries which they know not.

“I humbly appeal to the officials of the Ministry of Lands and Town Planning not to come to this land again to allot and sell to people. They should go to those lands they revoked for government since the days of former governor Victor Attah at Anua and Ifa Ikot Okpon and leave Urua Ntia Village which I am the village head alone.”