Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has completed a nine-million-liter water plant for about 80, 000 people mostly internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Borno State.
ICRC whose mandate is to help people affected by conflict and armed violence/crisis around the world, said at the commissioning of the Allamdari Water Plant located at the western axis of Maiduguri that the water project was conceived to help people around the city have access to good water.
Head of delegation-ICRC Nigeria, Elio Fillion said access to water has been a big challenge to most inhabitants around the Lake Chad region affected by environmental problems and armed conflict particularly a decade of Boko Haram insurgency.
“Over the past years, access to water for the people of the Lake Chad region has increasingly become difficult. Surface water sources have been dwindling, and the protracted armed conflict has kept several hundred of thousands of people away from their homes for years, depriving them of their regular source of water,” Fillion said.
He said Maiduguri population has increased from about 2 million to over 3 million as insurgency entered its tenth years. “Water became more expensive, more difficult to get and of poorer quality for the residents as well as for the displaced people, exposing the entire population to increase health risks,” the Red Cross stated.
Borno State governor, Babagana Zulum, while commissioning the plant said life without water is difficult – almost impossible. He said his government would invest heavily in water to ensure that residents of Maiduguri and its environs have access to clean water.
“The Allamdari Water Project is of great value to the government of Borno State and that is why government accorded propriety to its positive impact on thousands of our citizens in the metropolis,” he said.
The water project according to the Borno government, was conceived two decades ago but actual implementation did not take place until 2017 when ICRC “made its grand entrance with an offer to complete the Allamdari water works.” ICRC and the state government later signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2017. Borno government is expected to connect water from the plant to 40, 000 households.