ENUGU STATE COMMUNITY DECRIES ABSENCE OF PIPE-BORNE WATER

The people of Nkpunanor Community in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State say one of the greatest problems facing them is lack of pipe-borne water.

As a result of the importance of safe drinking water, the people who have never had pipe borne water since the history of the community, are calling on the Enugu State Government and concerned agencies to provide with potable water.

They made the call while interacting with Radio Nigeria.

Nkpunanor, an ancient town of 26 villages, is one of the largest communities in Nsukka and is about five minutes drive to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

As an agrarian community, Nkpunanor produces yellow pepper popularly known as “Ose Nsukka,” cucumber, garden egg, palm oil, palm wine, sweet potatoes, vegetables, yam and cocoyam in commercial quantity.

It also has cash crops including ogbono, oil bean seed known locally as ukpaka, mango fruits, pears of different species among others.

Nkpunanor has social amenities including health centre, electricity, access road and market.

Apart from being blessed with such amenities, the Radio Nigeria Voice FM Nsukka, the proposed Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and Enugu State Broadcasting Service, Nsukka are all located in the community.

However lack of pipe borne water remains one of the greatest challenges facing the inhabitants of the community.

Since the history of the town, Nkpunanor has never had pipe borne water which according to some has affected their socio-economic life.

Their major sources of drinking water are through purchase made from water vendors, rainfall, stream, sachet and bottled water.

Commenting on the issue, the traditional ruler of Nkpunanor Community, Igwe Patrick Okolo, described the absence of pipe borne water as worrisome, as the community alone could not help the situation.

Corroborating Igwe Okoli’s view, a community leader in the area, Chief Osondu Attah, maintained that lack of safe drinking water had affected their health status.

Chief Attah said that all appeals to the State Government to come to their aid through the Visit Every Community Programme (VEC) yielded no positive result.

A woman leader in the community, Mrs. Nnenna Agu Nwangwum, also lamented that lack of access water had affected agricultural produce in the community.

Mrs. Nwangwu noted that if water was provided to the people, Nkpunanor Nsukka would be a food basket of the State.

Another woman in the town, Mrs. Scholastica Ezema, said the cost implication of buying water from vendors was enormous.

Efforts of Radio Nigeria to get the reaction of the Managing Director Enugu State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, (ERUWASSA) was unsuccessful as he was said to be away from the office for an official assignment.

OBIORA EZE

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