Participants at a one-day stakeholders training workshop in Benin City, Edo State, have called on governments at all levels and other stakeholders, to intensify efforts to find a sustainable solution to the water crisis in Nigeria.
The participants at the workshop tagged, ‘Water Crisis and Pollution’ organized by Gbolekekro Women Empowerment and Development Organization, GWEDO, decried the negative impacts of water pollution on livelihoods, especially on people living in oil host and riverine communities in the country.
One of the resource persons, Comrade Dele Hunsun listed factors responsible for water scarcity and pollution to include climate change, environmental pollution, inefficient water management, deforestation and urbanization, among others.
He emphasized the need for people to maintain healthy living by ensuring they go for clean and safe water.
The resource person pointed out that a disease such as gastrointestinal disorder could result from the intake of unclean water, while insufficient intake of water could lead to headache.
In order to have access to clean and safe water, comrade Hunsun implored the participants and other Nigerians to always site boreholes far away from soak aways and to ensure they erect houses not less than 50 metres from a dump site.
Convener of the seminar and executive director of GWEDO, Comrade Cynthia Ebiere Bright said the seminar funded with support from the Global Green Fund, was put together to create awareness on the dangers of water pollution and to help educate the people, especially people from communities where extractive activities take place, to understand how to prevent further pollution.
“We just made them to understand too that, if you have a husbandry like animal farm, the dungs from those cows that go underground, that sink underground can cause underground pollution. And even the gas flare, you know they go to the depth of the earth to extract oil, and this oil spreads under the ground. And community people think when you dig a borehole not too far from the gas flare, you have struck clean water meanwhile, the underground water is already polluted with metals, with nitrate.
“Some of them have been having intestinal problems, they don’t even know that it is because of the water they drink, they attribute it to witchcraft manipulation,” she stated.
Comrade Bright lamented that waterways are now increasingly burdened by pollutants, making access to clean, save water difficult.
While noting that government has done little or nothing towards addressing the water crisis and pollution, she called on stakeholders in the environment sector to harness their collective knowledge, passion and commitment, to explore innovative strategies and best practices for mitigating water pollution and properly addressing the existing water crisis.
In their separate remarks at the training workshop, executive directors of Caring Heart Initiative, Mrs. Grace Ese Obakina and the Gleam Media, Mr. Samuel Ogie Igetei, respectively, expressed hope that with determination, compassion and a shared sense of responsibility, the challenges of water crisis and pollution could be overcome.
The duo called on stakeholders to work tirelessly to create a future where clean water is not a luxury but a fundamental right for everyone.
Some participants from an oil and riverine area, Gelegele community in Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State, Mr. Eyemni Lucky and Mrs. Doris Tuapriye Obi described the training workshop as an eye opener.
According to them, they have learnt a lot, including the need to treat water from borehole before drinking and how to ensure proper disposal of waste.
They assured of passing on lessons learnt from the seminar to their community members.
