For the residents of Oke-Arin Community, down-town Akinpelumi Street, Ikosi, Lagos, it’s a new dawn.
Courtesy of Lions International’s Leo District 404B2 Nigeria, the people now have access to potable water, suitable for washing, cooking and drinking; something they never had for well over a decade since they moved in there.
Oke-Arin Community is a little community further down Akinpelumi Street cut-off from the main Ikosi Community by a swampy area that also ensured that water accessed via wells were only good for certain level of washing.
As a result, they have had to travel hundreds of meters uphill via a plank bridge to the upper part of Akinpelumi Street to access water or to other nearby communities. The people told The Nation that it was always a hectic task, which they and their children had to go through to get their daily need of water to do simple washing, bathing and cooking.
According to one resident, Mrs Toyin Waheed, they still had to buy sachet ‘pure water’ water to drink, as they could not trust the water they were going through so much stress to access.
However, thanks to the youngsters of Leo Club, who as part of their youth activities, decided to meet their need by providing them with the borehole.
According to club president, Leo Olufolake Temitope Adegoke, the project was inspired by the desire to meet a need in line with the Lions Club mantra of ‘wherever there is a need, there is a Lion.’
“We learnt from someone that there is a community here in Akinpelumi Street, Ikosi, Lagos State, where they had no access to potable water. You will all agree with me, of course, that water is life; so we came over, indeed saw that they had this need and decided to take the lead by providing them with bore-hole water.
“This project is commissioned in memory of Late Leo Kolawole Iyanu-Oluwa aka Kola for All. He had a foundation and he is also a member of Leo District 404B2 Nigeria. Before his demise, he was the one who proposed this project; so after his demise, I took it upon myself that as District President, I would not allow his dream to fizzle away but live on. And that is what brought us here.
“We started from the beginning. We went to the community uphill to drill a borehole and to lay the pipe hundreds of meters down to this community. If you go up there, you’ll see where we dug the borehole. We also installed the taps as you can see.”
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On how they as youngsters could finance such a huge project, Leo Adegoke said, “As you can see, it is an expensive project, don’t forget we are all students; so we put our little pennies together, then we reached out to our Lion leaders who supported us, and today we have it here. I can tell you with all my heart that I am fulfilled that this project is a success.”
Reacting to the unveiling of the project, the CDA chairman, Pastor Ilesanmi prayed for the youngsters for coming all the way from their respective homes to meet their most pressing and most important need. “For this, God will reward you abundantly and good things will always follow you and you will always record success in all your undertakings. Before now, our people used to trek uphill across the canal to fetch potable water. But thanks to you, we have overcome that challenge.”
Mrs Toyin Waheed corroborated the pastor’s declaration that they had to go far to access good water to even wash and cook.
“We had to go very far because water around here is not potable, not even the well water. This is because it’s a swampy area and as you can see, the swamp over there cuts us from the uphill where you can find clean water. Even the water we travel hundreds of meters to fetch, we cannot drink, and still have to buy sachet water to drink. We only use it to wash and cook.”
Thankfully, she revealed that they never experienced cholera or any outbreak of diseases despite their challenges.
Alhaji Badamosi Ismaila also thanked the Leo youths for the gesture and pledged to see to it that the facility is well maintained and protected from being vandalised by excited children who were already milling around the taps.
“We will appoint elderly people who would monitor it and ensure it is well maintained. We will ensure that the children are orderly so that they don’t spoil it.”
He also said prayed for the youngsters: “God will continue to protect and prosper them.”