The Muslim Congress (TMC) has described as unacceptable the death of six persons in Isolo, Lagos to cholera outbreak last month.
TMC Amir (President) Dr Luqman AbdurRaheem said such death was avoidable if the government had lived to expectation.
Speaking at a quarterly briefing on the state of the nation, the Yaba College of Education (YABATECH) Senior Lecturer urged the government to declare a state of emergency in the supply of potable pipe-borne water to the people.
He said: “If we take a cursory look at the provision of pipe-borne water in the states, we will realise that this is one area that has been largely neglected. This neglect comes with the attendant health risks and the stress that people undergo in the search for quality drinking water.
“Our efforts to attain and sustain the millennium development goals will face difficult challenges if we are not able to provide quality drinking water for our people. We have seen that polio that had earlier been declared eradicated has again resurfaced. The issue of cholera with the attendant deaths in Lagos in the recent time all point to the urgent need for the government to supply her people with good quality water.
“It is this deplorable situation that has brought about and elevated the ‘pure water’ culture which is more pronounced in Lagos State and Abuja. Our women and children daily lose man-hours that could have been productively deployed in the search for drinking water.
“The more affluent or those who can afford it have resorted to drilling boreholes and digging of wells all in the bid to provide a semblance of accessible and safe drinking water.
“The government must therefore quicken its steps in ensuring that quality drinking water is quickly and adequately supplied to the people before the health conditions of the people experience further deterioration.”