When Mr. Luke Ifop Ulom was appointed the Overseeing Director of the Federal Capital Territory Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (FCT-RUWASSA), the storm in the teacup ceased.
Ifop Ulom came with a mission to change the narrative by ensuring that every community in the FCT has access to drinkable water and put an end to open defecation.
He is doing everything possible to ensure the provision of water that where there is no pipe borne water, an acceptable alternative must be provided for every community in the FCT.
With the support of the FCT Minister Barrister Nyesom Wike, RUWASSA is touching the nooks and crannies of the Federal Capital Territory by providing access to water leaving a landmark of government intervention in support of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
According to him, when you have safe drinking water, you are putting 95% of diseases away. You take care of your water; you take care of sanitation and hygiene.
He said further that this will ultimately result in good health conditions of the citizens, such that the money that would have been spent on health issues will now be utilised on other productive ventures.
Ifop Ulom, however, said development partners, most especially the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), WaterAid, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and local NGOs have been of great assistance to the agency.
The mission of the agency, according to Luke Ifop Ulom, is to ensure sustainable provision and access to potable water, hygiene and sanitation facilities and services to rural and peri-urban communities in Abuja.
The fact, however, remains that RUWASSA’s main source of water supply to the rural and peri-urban areas is ground water. And access to improved water supply in rural areas in the FCT is estimated at 45% and access to improved sanitation at less than 30%.
The agency, he said, selected Kwali to be the model, to ensure it is open defecation free. That project is ongoing, that is six of those solar-powered water schemes that were constructed and completed in addition to the hand-pumped boreholes that it had then. And now the agency has four rural water schemes in each of the 17 chiefdoms making all to be 58.
For the solar-powered water, they are in Byazhin, Kubwa, Pyakasa, Gwagwa, Paiko, and Ibwa, which are spread across the six Area Councils. And this water scheme was targeted at those communities that were potentially at risk of cholera or were affected by the cholera outbreak.
The agency, not just providing the water schemes, also went into community mobilisation and awareness programme to sensitise the communities because it’s one thing to provide the facilities, it is another thing to maintain the facilities so that was why the chairmen of the Area Councils were invited to get involved.
The agency has been trying to convince the communities to buy into these, that is why it went through the traditional leaders.
And so it was last week at Karshi, a sub urban community in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) when RUWASSA gathered the community leaders in celebration of a significant milestone for the community, the commissioning of five boreholes – an essential step towards enhancing access to clean and safe water.
“Water is life, it nurtures us and sustains us daily and drives our local economy. Yet, for many of us, the daily struggle for this precious resource is a reality we cannot overlook. With the successful completion of this newly maintained water project, we take a giant leap towards alleviating that struggle. The project was not merely a technical endeavour, it was a collaborative effort driven by the shared vision of the Directorate and the community.”
In conformity with the desire for residents of Karshi, to have clean and potable water, a sanitised and hygienic environment, RUWASSA is ready to make sure that every community in the FCT benefits from government interventions.
These efforts are geared towards improving access to safe water and minimising the incidence of water related diseases in the communities.
He reaffirmed that everything would be done to ensure the full implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu.
It is obvious that not every community has the advantage of having potable water for now, but the FCT Administration under Wike and the Minister of State, Hajiya Dr. Mariya Mahmud, is doing everything to ensure the provision of drinkable water.
It is in line with this assurance that “we are here today to commission this newly maintained project in Karshi, Abuja Municipal Area Council.
“I would like to use this opportunity to call on the beneficiary community of Karshi to take ownership of the scheme by ensuring sustainability of the project.
As an administration, we the FCTA remains committed to reducing multidimensional poverty levels and achieving set targets in water sanitation and hygiene. As such we are committed to meeting the universal access to water sanitation by the SDG target of 2030.”
He said the government has developed an SDG action plan for the FCT and has aligned the 17 SDGs with the ministerial deliverables which are in consonance with the Presidential Directives and Executive Orders 009.
These laudable projects are monumental in these communities in view of perennial water scarcity experienced in rural areas over time. The FCT Administration is supporting and encouraging collaboration and partnerships in the provision of safe drinking water in FCT.
Recently, the FCTA through the FCT RUWASSA rehabilitated 10 hand pumps boreholes as an intervention to assist selected communities ravaged by cholera in the FCT. Five of these rehabilitated boreholes took place in Karshi. This action by the FCT Minister underscores the importance of Karshi in the administrative consideration of the FCT.
In addition, the FCTA through FCT RUWASSA has constructed 152 hand pump boreholes, 6 motorised solar power boreholes and rehabilitated 17 rural water supply schemes culminating in the provision of access to safe water in the communities.
It is reported that every day, around 2,000 children die in the country due to diarrhea caused by lack of access to safe water and toilets. Apart from diarrhea, other diseases could be linked to poor sanitation and hygiene like scabies, typhoid fever, malaria, cholera, trachoma, pinworm, roundworm, whipworm and river blindness,
Similarly, avian influenza like many communicable diseases pose a big challenge on the wealth, economic and social wellbeing of the populace and this can only be mitigated through good hygiene practices such as hand washing with running water and soap.
Both the private and public water sources is significant in the service delivery sector of the FCT. In this regard, Ifop Ulom urged the good people of Karshi to embrace the clarion call for behavioral change to safely manage and conserve the available water resources for the current and future generations.
In this regard, the beneficiary community should take ownership of these facilities and ensure their smooth operation, management and sustainability.
RUWASSA boss say, as “we officially launch this newly maintained borehole, let us celebrate not only the water it provides but the unity it fosters within our community. Together we are not just commissioning borehole, we are nurturing a thriving and united community.
FCT Minister of state Dr. (Mrs.) Mariya Mahmud who was represented by her special adviser, technical Mr Michael Bawa said the government is desirous to provide access to safe water to the various communities in the FCT.
She said the FCTA remains committed to reducing multidimensional poverty levels and achieving set targets in water sanitation and hygiene.
“As such we are committed to meeting the universal access to water sanitation by the SDG target of 2030.
These laudable projects, she said, are monumental in these communities in view of perennial water scarcity experienced in rural areas over time.
The FCT Administration is supporting and encouraging collaboration and partnerships in the provision of safe drinking water in the FCT.
Kudos to the Overseeing Director of RUWASSA, Luke Ifop Ulom who is turning the fortune around by getting the rural communities enjoy the dividends of democracy as being provided by the Wike led FCT administration.