While the state has made remarkable progress in its transformation agenda in terms of physical infrastructure, the same cannot be said of the provision and access to safe drinking water by the residents of Lagos, as many currently suffer untold hardships in their quest for potable water and sanitation. Omolara Akintoye examines the grim situation.
A school of thought describes good governance as a participative manner of governing that functions in a responsible, accountable and transparent manner, based on the principles of efficiency and legitimacy, for the purpose of promoting the rights of individual citizens.
But while one may rightly argue that it is such good governance that has brought about the current transformation in Lagos State, with evident progress in most facets of life, including security, environment, traffic orderliness and many more, the government’s efforts still do not extend to certain sectors.
Take water for instance. For a city literally situated on water, Lagos should ordinarily not encounter much difficulty in meeting the water needs of its populace. But this surprisingly has been the case. While the state has made remarkable progress in its transformation agenda, in terms of physical infrastructure, the same cannot be said of the provisional access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Residents suffer untold hardships in their daily quest for potable water, due to acutely inadequate supply from the public water agency. Many homes have never had pipe borne water and where it used to exist, the pipes have for long run dry.
In many places, people drink from well, just as others depend on the ever-present water vendors, who peddle their ware in (unclean and unsafe) jerry cans, bottles or cellophane sachets referred to in local parlance as pure water.
A United Nations human rights expert recently called on the Nigerian Government to increase funding for water and sanitation in this year’s budget, to address the needs of 21 million residents of Lagos, the country’s largest city. His standpoint is that the city has continued to grow, while access to basic services dwindle. According to Heller, the annual budget discussion is a chance for the city to take action in providing water and sanitation for its people.
He also expressed concerns over the high number of vulnerable people. “There is no question that the city’s water and sanitation sector has deteriorated to this point because of the way it has been managed for many years.” The Special Rapporteur also presented a few alternative solutions to the problem for the government to consider, such as increasing the effectiveness of the public service provider, adopting necessary financing schemes, and reducing water losses.
“For more than a decade, the government has adopted a hard-line policy according to which the solution would seem to only attract private capital, notably via public-private partnerships (PPPs). Numerous civil society groups have urged the government to guarantee their right to participate in these processes,” said Heller, adding that the key to an adequate solution is a participatory process.
In addition, the situation continues to worsen as the population of Lagos increases, and the resources become scarce, with only an estimated 10 per cent of the population having access to water supplied by the state utility. Residents have also reportedly been drilling their own boreholes, in hope of accessing their own water, causing various environmental and health concerns, especially regarding the danger of contaminated water consumption.
The Nation went round some of the local government divisions in the state and it was alarming to discover that most residences don’t’ have access to potable water. Those who don’t have boreholes spend hours trying to access water daily. This is not to talk of the physical effort and the telling effect on their health.
However, in highbrow areas such as Falomo, Ikoyi and its environs, residents are said to have uninterrupted water supply from the state’s water corporation. In an interview with Mr Derinsola Sowemimo, a business man who resides off Falomo, his house and majority of the houses in the area are connected to main water pipes and they enjoy potable water on a daily basis. But for people living in Kakawa, Campus, Upper Campus, Epetedo among others, this reporter gathered that most homes without boreholes undergo stress before accessing potable water.
An interview with Alhaji Abdullai Sasore, who resides in Constituency 2, Odunfa area in Lagos Island, lamented that most of the communities only have access to potable water via boreholes. According to him, most of the boreholes dug by past politicians in the area have been abandoned with the exception of one, which the community now manages. The borehole he said was dug in 2009 and is said to be maintained by him and some others, so that people do not lack safe water. “We are maintaining this borehole because we don’t want people to suffer for water and if you come here early in the morning, you will see how people come from far places like Epetedo and queue up here to fetch water. Sometimes they even get into physical combat just to fetch water. It is very frustrating,” he said.
Asked if the area is connected to government tap water, he said “Formally, there used to be tap water but was said to have been abandoned for a long time and eventually destroyed since nobody follow it up. Even most of the pipes are now rusted.” Alhaji Sasore pointed out that some houses in the area have boreholes, which serve their needs, leaving only those without it to storm the streets in search for water. “Sometimes, you see people queuing here to fetch water from as early as 2am,” said Sasore revealed.
He seized the opportunity to appeal to the government of Lagos State to help find lasting solutions to the problem. “It is evident that right from the government of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to this present administration of Governor Ambode, a lot has been done in the area of transformation of this state, but it is alarming that little or nothing has been done in the area of ensuring that the populace have easy access to potable water and this is so sad.”
In other parts of the state like Agbado-Ijaiye, Oke-Odo, Ayobo-Ipaja, among others, the story isn’t much different. The Nation discovered that the people are not connected to tap water. Where they were connected, recent road rehabilitation efforts have unfortunately put things in jeopardy, as the pipes were tampered with, causing the water to stop flowing.
Mrs. Fatima Ajao, a land lady who resides at Ile-Iwe in Meiran Area of Alimosho said in 2011, Lagos State Water Corporation came to her area to install water main into each of the houses and ever since, we have been enjoying potable water.” According to her, the water was flowing until 2015 when the same state government started rehabilitation of roads in the area. “This affected the water pipes and since then water has stopped flowing. Even after the road rehabilitation ended, the water flow did not resume. When we asked from some of the officials of the corporation, they said plans are on to rectify it. But the waiting has become endless,” she lamented.
Asked how they’ve been accessing water, Mrs. Ajao said, “Ever since tap water stopped flowing, we’ve been fetching water from boreholes from distant places. Before, we were fetching a jerry can for N5, but now it has become N30. Imagine buying ten kegs for N300 every day, it is frustrating,” she lamented. Before the pipes got damaged, she said she was paying as little as N600 per month as water rate, which she said “was quite good. That was an equivalent of N20 per day. We are therefore calling on Governor Ambode to find a lasting solution to the water crisis, so that we can have easy access to water again.”
A visit to Command/Ajasa, Ayobo, Ipaja, Abule Oki areas presented a similar scenario. Most of the residents spoke of how they used to enjoy tap water during the administration of former Governor Babatubde Fashola but said the water flow has stopped since the road construction in the area started. Mrs. Kofoworola Oyeniyi, one of the residents, spoke of how the utility body kept bringing bills of up to N1,000 per month long after the water stopped flowing. “We had to tell them to stop bringing bills to us since water was no longer flowing,” she said. She revealed that their only means of water supply now is the Alasua River.
At Agege, the story is slightly different. But while most houses located around Agege Stadium enjoy flowing potable water, houses in the Pen Cinema area are not that lucky. As a result, residents of houses not able to sink boreholes lament how they pay through their noses to get water from water vendors. A visit to Ajebo Street, also in Agege, the situation is grim. There was an abandoned borehole project, which was rehabilitated many years back but an interview with one of the residents, Mrs. Patience Akpan, revealed that the bore hole got spoilt in 2014 and no repair work has been done to put it back in shape.
At Yaba/Ebute-meta axis, Mrs. Akpan, who apart from living in the area also operates a shop, said those of them who do not have boreholes in their houses pass through hell to access water.
The Nation was at the popular Montgomery Street, where some of the residents said they are connected to tap water but the flow has been erratic. Mrs. Laide Olaleye, a resident and a shop owner in the area said “Once the water flows for two days, it will go off for two weeks and we pay exorbitant bills.” According to Olaleye, once the water stops flowing “we start buying water at the rate of N350 per truck.
The same can be said of residents of McNeil Street, as they currently don’t have access to tap water. Mrs. Shola Camson, a landlady said the only tap water they used to enjoy dates back to the era of Obafemi Awolowo. She said, “It stopped running when the pipes got rusted and Lagos State government has not done anything to rectify it since then.” She lamented that accessing water has thence become a serious problem. “We’ve been going to St. Dominic (a nearby church) to fetch water, but when I discovered that the stress was getting too much, I saved money and dug borehole in my house.”
On whether the state government has made any move to connect the houses to water mains, Mrs. Camson said “In year 2015, the officials of Water Corporation came and dug pipes in the area with the intention of connecting us to water the main but that was the last time we saw them. In this recession, we have to buy water at high cost, in addition to paying huge electricity bills, house cleaning services; and the house rent in this area is high. The government should please find lasting solution to the problem of water” she said.
Mrs Olawale Abimbola, another resident of Yaba, who has lived on Macneil Street for over five years, said they enjoy constant flow of water in the area. About the bills, she said the ministry only brings bills when there is water. “Once the water is not flowing, they hardly give us bills” she said.
In Shomolu area, Bajulaiye axis to be precise, a limited number of residents have access to potable water. On some streets off Igbobi College Road, most of the residents have no access to potable water. Said Mrs. Alice Quadri, who has lived on Akinsoji Street since 1994, “This street has not been enjoying potable water but for the intervention of the street executives who erected a borehole for the street. The problem however, is that the borehole only works when there is electricity; and with this poor power supply, we have not been having stable water.” To get daily water supply, she said the residents of the area have been at the mercy of the water vendors.
To the authorities, she said “Government should give us tap water or else there will be crisis.”
Invitation to outbreak of diseases
Lack of access to safe drinking water can be regarded as the direct cause of disease spread, said Dr. Amos Sijuwade, a Pediatrician with the Lagos State government. “A child could suffer from a water-related disease every four months. In a family of four young children, the parents are likely to have a child with a potentially fatal disease once a month. At this rate, even the cheapest drugs, such as oral rehydration therapy, become expensive,” he said.
Sijuade also said cost related to time spent on water collection is unquantifiable. He pointed out that “Collecting safe drinking water is extremely time-consuming. The average time each household spends on water collection every day is 60-120 minutes, time that could be spent on economic activities.” He therefore enjoined Lagos State government to ensure that adequate steps are taken to curb the imminent water crisis in the state.
