By FIJ
A report by Stallion Times has highlighted the horrific effects of Nigeria’s current economic crisis coupled with water shortages in Lokoja, the capital city of Kogi State.
The failure of the Lokoja Greater Water Works to deliver water to Felele, Yamayama and the Government Reserved Area (GRA) has cost residents their overall wellbeing and lives.
Some victims of the water shortage situation have either contracted infectious diseases, been maimed or died as a result of picking communicable diseases from contaminated water supply.
In the affected areas in Lokoja towns, these victims of potable water shortages include children.
Fatimah Inuwa, a 10-year-old primary school student, was hit by a car on one of her trips to fetch water along the busy Gaduma road. Little Inuwa lived on, but with a broken leg and bruises all over her body.
Inuwa was helping Hajia, her single mother, with getting water for their house when the accident happened.“I don’t have a husband, neither do I have a paying job. My family and I survive through the proceeds of my small business,” Hajia told Stallion Times investigators.
“Buying water is very expensive, and when I close from the day’s sales, I and my children go across to fetch water, but see where that has led my daughter Fati.
“That fateful day, we were already taking the last trench of water home when from nowhere, that car just lifted my daughter with her bucket of water on her head. He sped off immediately but all thanks to those around who took her off the road, but then, she was covered in her own blood.
“She sustained injuries including a broken leg, and that leg, up till now, hasn’t properly healed. She has been going to an orthopedic clinic every Tuesday in FMC, and that is a lot of money, but I need to treat my child. I am indebted to many people and my business is also suffering; as you know, if she doesn’t go to the clinic, the leg will never be useful anymore. I am appealing to the state government to please look into this issue of water scarcity and release water for us. It’s becoming a big nightmare for us.”
Johnson Amos, another parent who was a Felele resident, had to go through a worse ordeal.
Moses, Amos’ seven-year-old son, died after a long and exhausting battle to keep him alive as he suffered from a deadly waterborne disease.
“Water scarcity in Lokoja town has not only made me financially broke, but it has also cost me my only son,” Amos said.
“The government and the State Ministry of Water Resources made our lives miserable. No water, and no alternative. We only buy water from water vendors who we don’t even know where they get their supply from.
Narrating how Moses died, Amos revealed the weeks of attention he and his wife gave to their ailing son.
Their quest to save Moses took them from Lokoja in Kogi State to Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
“Moses Amos was the only male child I had. He started complaining of stomach pain and this pain lasted for a number of months. At a point, the chemist I went to suggested we deworm him and we did but the ache persisted,” Amos explained.
“My boy could no longer eat, he became a shadow of himself and it was at that point we took him to the Kogi State Specialist Hospital, Lokoja, where we were referred to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada.
“We were told he had untreated typhoid which had perforated his intestines. We spent over three hundred thousand (N300,000) for surgery and even more for bed space, treatment and dressing of the wound. There was no accommodation for us, so we had to be lodged in a hotel close to the hospital in order to be close to Moses.
“His treatment drained our resources. I sell second-hand electrical appliances and my wife is a tailor. When we could no longer afford the bills at the hospital and the hotel, we asked that we be discharged, and that was how we came back home with our son.
“At first, he showed signs of improvement, but that was short-lived as he died after four days of being discharged.”
Abigail Omale, a resident of GRA in Lokoja town, found out that her ward had been manipulated and sexually violated by the gateman at her neighbour’s house. The gateman raped Enechojon, Omale’s 15-year-old ward, before letting her fetch water from the compound several times.
The rapist gateman eventually impregnated Echenojon and infected her with a yeast infection. All this happened because she wanted to fetch water from her neighbour’s residence in the midst of water scarcity.
“In February 2023, I noticed my daughter’s sluggishness. She rejects food and becomes frail,” Omale told Stallion Times investigators.
“One day, she fainted, I rushed her to the hospital; the doctor disclosed that she was 3 months pregnant. It was at this point she narrated what had been happening to her each time I sent her to fetch water from the neighbours.
“Now, she is out of school. We managed to feed her before because I am a local government worker and you know that local government workers in Kogi State are paid percentage salaries and the payment is not every month.
“I managed to register for antenatal, we need to get baby essentials, prepare for delivery, and even get her routine drugs. What can I do other than to pray for the governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello to help us and find a solution to our suffering due to the scarcity of potable drinking water?”
Omale said that the rapist made no contribution to support Echenojon. There were no indications that he would face the law for statutory rape.
