For the women in Monkey Village, they say a church opens its tap for them for just two hours, and afterwards, they would have to draw their water from a canal.
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
At a parley organized by a non-governmental organization, CEE-HOPE, women in many communities in Lagos say they rely on generous neighbours or are forced to use stagnant water from nearby ponds to wash, cook, and do other sanitary activities.
This is despite that Lagos is one of the biggest economies in Africa with a monthly internally generated revenue of N45 billion. Yet, it has no public water supply. Those who can’t afford boreholes rely on water vendors or raw sources, as many of the women said during the event which was held today, October 11.
The parley was tagged Women and Water Wahala. It was supported by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Nigeria. It had in attendance women from many communities, including Ifelodun in the Ifako Ijaiye Local Government Area, Monkey Village in the Ikeja Local Government Area and Orile Agege in the Agege Local Government Area.
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For the women in Monkey Village, they say a church opens its tap for them for just two hours, and afterwards, they would have to draw their water from a carnal.
The women in Orile Agege say they trekked for miles to buy water. And when such is unavailable due to power outages which occur regularly, they resort to a stagnant pond for bathing, washing and even cooking.
CEE-HOPE executive director, Betty Abah, lamented the shortage of clean water in many Lagos communities, saying it compromises the well-being and health of the women. She frowned at the inability of the state government to provide potable water despiting having the equivalent of what 33 states in Nigeria generates as revenue.
Head of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Lagos, Oluremi Ihejirika, said she felt sad hearing that women rely on water from stagnant canals to cook and do other home activities. “Even Sanwo-Olu would be shocked to hear this,” she said.
She urged the women to organize themselves in making their demands because sometimes, the government could be blind, deaf and dumb. “If you are talking to a deaf person, you need to shout, you need to demonstrate. And if you are talking to a blind person, you need to touch them,” she said.
One of the speakers at the event, Vickie Uremma Onyekuru of the Child Health Organisation, said the problem of water affects women’s health, social standing and economic positions. She said bad water could result in all kinds of ailments including skin infections which has the potential of causing a woman to suffer social rejection. She added that relying on water sources from commercial boreholes could also be a major hole to the meagre income of poor folks.
A community mobiliser, Mr Raymond from the Ileje community, an Island in the Amuwo Odofin local government, said access to water is a right recognized by the UN charter on Human and Peoples Rights because the lack of it is a violation of a person’s dignity.