No fewer than 250,000 residents now enjoy clean and steady water supply following the rehabilitation of six water schemes by UN-Habitat and South Korea in Niger.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports in Minna on Monday that the facilities were rehabilitated under the UN-Habitat and South Korea Government National Urban Policy Programme.
The benefitting communities are Doko, Gwada, Tegina, Beji, Tungan-Mallam and Kataeregi of the state.
Alhaji Akilu Kuta, Permanent Secretary of Niger Ministry for Water Resources, lauded the support of UN-Habitat in restoring the water facilities.
He disclosed that before the UN-Habitat intervention, only four representing 7.5 per cent out of 53 bi-water schemes in the state were functional.
Kuta said the repairs included; flushing of 10 existing boreholes, drilling of three new boreholes, installation of 13 submersible pumps and auto-starting panels.
Others were installation of booster pumps, and other technical works in each of these water schemes which had led to production of over 2 million liters of clean water daily for residents of the communities.
Kuta said the intervention had improved access to clean water in the communities and increased production capacity of clean water by the state Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Agency.
Also, Alhaji Saliu Babangida, District Head of Tungan-Mallam, said over the past two decades, members of the community usually gets water from unreliable and often unsafe sources before the intervention.
He noted that the UN-Habitat had transformed the water supply situation in the community as members of the community now have access to clean and safe water.
“After UN-Habitat drilled two new boreholes and installed all necessary borehole fittings, residents of Tungan-Mallam now fetch clean and safe water from the water facility daily,” he said.
Similarly, Amina Abubakar, a mother of five in Tegina town, said she do spend N1,000 daily to get water from vendors, but now only N250 on water after the repairs by UN-Habitat.
Also, Hauwa Idris, a resident of Kataeregi, said before the intervention, people of the community only fetch water from the facility every three days, but can now fetch every day.
NAN recalls that Alhaji Abubakar Usman, Secretary to Niger Government had on Dec. 14, 2023 disclosed that the state received 50,000 dollars in 2022 and 25,000 dollars in 2023 from UN-Habitat to rehabilitate three water schemes.(NAN)
