CAPPA – Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa

Thirsty for Water: Residents of Oshogun and Araromi Cry for Help

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Highlights:

  • Deaths related to unwholesome sources of water recorded
  • Cases of typhoid and malaria common among residents
  • Lack of government intervention
  • Youths carry placards saying “No Water, No Votes”

Introduction

The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) visited Oshogun and Araromi communities in Kosofe Area of Lagos State for a fact-finding exercise following a save-our-souls from residents that the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) has for decades denied them clean and portable water. Oshogun and Araromi communities have a population of about 1.5 million people and share a boundary with Ketu Local Council Development Authority (LCDA) under Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos. The CAPPA team visited the communities on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. The engagement gave the team an opportunity to obtain first-hand information of how residents are coping with the lack of water in the communities and what they want the government to do.[spacer height=”25px”]

Water Parliament

CAPPA organized a Water Parliament in the community to obtain first-hand information on the reported water challenges, and also discuss possible strategies to be utilized by the community to engage their elected representatives and the LWC to resolve the issues.[spacer height=”25px”]

During the fact-finding visit, CAPPA’s Director of Programmes, Philip Jakpor, sympathized with the community over the recent death of a resident due to cholera gotten from contaminated water. Jakpor described the situation as very unfortunate and said it exposed the failure of the government in guaranteeing universal access to water as a basic right for the people.[spacer height=”25px”]

CAPPA’s Associate Director, Aderonke Ige,
CAPPA’s Associate Director, Aderonke Ige,

He urged the community to remain resolute in their demands for government to provide them with clean and adequate water. He also encouraged them to be ready to intensify pressure on the government if they want their situation to change for the better.

 

The same message was relayed to the residents in  Yoruba dialect by CAPPA’s Associate Director, Aderonke Ige, who also charged participants at the Parliament to voice their challenges for documentation purposes.

 

The community representatives explained that for decades they have been without public water. In 2018, they had collectively contributed a sum of N2, 000,000 (two Million Naira) to connect water from the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) to the community but were disappointed when the pipes connected to a facility in Utuh, one of the streets in Araromi Quarters, were destroyed during a road construction by the Lagos State government after a short period. After that, there was no effort by the LWC to address their concerns.[spacer height=”25px”]

They complained that the devastating lack of access to potable water is posing significant consequences on their health and economic prosperity. In 2021, a member of the community died of cholera. Potentially life-threatening ailments and waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, and typhoid are common reoccurring sicknesses in the community, especially among children as people are forced to scout for water from unsafe sources or spend a great chunk of what they earn buying water from informal vendors who walk great distances to fetch relatively clean water sold to residents at very pricey amounts.[spacer height=”25px”]

CAPPA learned that though most residential buildings in the community have private boreholes and wells due to the failure of the LWC to provide them with water, the groundwater quality is poor. Private water sourcing efforts have equally not provided much succor as the water is contaminated with excess deposits of iron, arsenic, and hydrocarbon elements which makes it unsafe for drinking, cooking, washing, or any other productive activity.[spacer height=”25px”]

Testimonies [spacer height=”25px”]

Jayeisimi Adepeju, resident

‘‘The houses in this area may look beautiful but they cannot boast of water. Even the boreholes and wells dug by residents in many compounds are unusable because the groundwater is so dirty and has oil floating on the surface. As such, community members spend between N1500 – N2000 buying gallons of water from water merchants, including sachets of ‘pure water’ which is adjudged to be pre-filtered and safe for drinking. Persons with very large families end up spending even more money buying water for everyday use. The accumulated water bills we expend are so much more than our children’s school fees yet some of us are barely surviving on a monthly minimum wage of N30,000’’.[spacer height=”25px”]

Mr. Olusola Akinsaya, resident

Our situation is very bad in this community. For the past 18 years, there has been no water in our community. We have written letters to our representatives but there has been no response. As a result of getting water from unwholesome places, people are dying like chickens. One person from our community died from cholera recently.  We treat typhoid and malaria every 2 months at the least. We don’t have any government presence here. Politicians have not done anything for us. They only come here to solicit our vote during the electioneering period but after they get elected, we won’t hear anything from them anymore.  There was a time we contributed Two Million Naira (N2,000,000) to lay pipes from a Catholic church to our homes but in the process of road construction, the government destroyed all the pipes and there was no compensation. Even though we did not have water, we still received monthly bills from Lagos Water Corporation until we agreed not to pay anymore. Beyond water, we also have electricity challenges in this community We don’t have light.  The suffering is too much for us.  We have resolved that if there is no water, there will be no votes in this community.[spacer height=”25px”]

Pastor Isaac Oketola, resident

When it comes to water, it is very terrible in this community.  Where I used to live there was water to some extent but here there is none. I usually drive to Somolu, and even Maryland to fetch water. We will be happy if the government can come to our aid. They only come here to seek our vote but after that, they disappear. I am in support of the no water, no vote decision[spacer height=”25px”]

Mrs. Adeleye Taiwo, resident

There are two things that bother me. One, our community does not have clean water for washing clothes and cooking, talk more of drinking. Most times, I take my dirty clothes from my house to my shop to wash them because of the bad water in the community.

Recently my husband spent over N28,000 (twenty-eight thousand naira) to revive our borehole but the problem persists. Second, the government brought a transformer to my area in 2017 but as we speak it has not generated electricity for one day. It is getting bad by the day. We pay for land charges and other statutory fees, but we are not getting anything in return from the government.[spacer height=”25px”]

Iyabode Olaiya

We don’t have water. The water we fetch from the borehole has oil sediments on it when we put it in a bucket. The most disturbing thing for me is that our children go out to play, drink this water and this comes at a huge cost to us in terms of illnesses they suffer from time to time[spacer height=”25px”]

Baale (Traditional ruler) of Oshogun, Chief M.O Makinde

This community continues to suffer economic and health troubles because of a lack of access to water. We want our lawmakers and those representing us in the Lagos state government to come to respond to the demands of our people.[spacer height=”25px”]

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Recommendations

  1. Lagos State Government through the Lagos Water Corporation take immediate steps to provide clean and potable water for Oshogun and Araromi community
  2. Lagos state government compensates the family of deceased members of the community affected by the poor quality of water arising from the destruction of the pipelines conveying water to the community
  3. Lagos State Government immediately replace or fix the abandoned electricity transformer to provide power for the community
  4. The Lagos State government addresses the poor state of the environment in the community including the bad road[spacer height=”25px”]

Images From The Water Parliament[spacer height=”25px”]

Cross section of participants at the Water Parliament
Cross section of participants at the Water Parliament

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The CAPPA team
Group photograph with participants at the Water Parliament
A water vendor in the Community
A water vendor in the Community
Poor quality water from the boreholes and wells

 

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