Women from Polobubou community in Delta State cries out for the provision of drinkable clean water.
Access to drinkable clean water by locals has been a challenge for decades. The people are plagued by adverse degradation of their ecosystem that was occasioned by oil exploration activities of multinationals operating in their community. For this reason, locals cannot access drinkable clean water.
Polobubou is an Ijaw community located in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State. It’s a four hours by boat from Warri municipal jetty.
The community hosts multinational companies like Chevron Nigeria Limited, SPDC, CONOIL NIG. LTD, SAHARA energy Nig. Ltd, Gwato oil Ltd.
In commemoration of this years World Water Day, National Point correspondent interviewed locals of Polobubou about their challenges in accessing clean drinkable water.
Mrs. Abulu Gana, women leader, Polobubou community in narrating their ordeal said, “We travel very far by paddling of our canoe to fetch clean water. The effect of this polluted water here in our community gave rise to our people contacting cholera, typhoid and malaria.
“Our people, young and old, defecate and urinate in the same water. We throw refuse in the same water. Our homes are built on the same water. Our activities are on the same water. We don’t have table land anywhere. Our environment is covered by polluted salt water.”
Mrs. Gana said the degradation of Polobubou’s ecosystem came as a result of the oil exploration by oil companies.
She therefore appealed to the international oil companies operating in the community to provide the people with clean drinkable water.
“We are suffering, deforestation also is adversely affecting us too. There are no economic trees. We have lost our natural livelihood due to the activities of multinationals.
“We also need the assistance of government, as well as the assistance of well meaning organizations and individuals. We want this suffering to end, we cannot continue like this,” Mrs. Gana lamented.
On her part, Mrs. Kate Gbaluvi, welfare officer, Polobubou National Committee member said, “The impact of the lack of clean water is very, very enormous. We talk about cholera, we talk about pregnant women having miscarriages due to the drinking of highly polluted water.
“What we ask is, for the multinationals operating in our community to come and help us by providing drinkable clean water to save our children especially, as well as every other individual from cholera and every other disease gotten from contaminated water.
“The community does not have the resources to carry out this project alone. I pray that the Lord will give them the strength to do it.”
Mr. Monday Yoroki, a community stakeholder from Polobubou narrates said it takes us about two to three hours for the women to paddle a canoe to get to Chevron facility where they fetch water. “That is even the water they have already used to wash.”
He revealed that things were not like that many years ago before the oil companies came. “My grand father said, before the ecological impact in this community, we had clean for drinking. Our rivers were deep before the dredging of this canal to the Atlantic Ocean. The salt water from the Atlantic Ocean encroached into our community and we no longer have drinking water. Many companies have tried to provide water but there has been no impact.
“We don’t have clean drinking water, and because of that, our children and adults come down with diverse health challenge.
“We are using this medium to call on the government, multinationals, and relevant agencies to come to our aid by providing our people of clean drinking water.”
World Water Day is marked annually all over the world on 22 March. The event is aimed at raising awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. This globally marked event is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis. A core focus of World Water Day is to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.
Today, water is under extreme threat from a growing population, and the worsening impacts of climate change. As society balances the demands on water resources, the populace interests are not being taken into account.
The theme of World Water Day day 2025 is “Glacier Presentation “
