By Iliya Kure
25-year-old Bathsheba Nerus, a final year undergraduate English Language student at Gombe State University, northeast Nigeria, is championing a cause to help her Tangale kinsmen in Kulgul community enjoy potable water.
Bathsheba carried out her campaigns both physically and via social media, especially Facebook to make known her goal.
This had led her to critical stakeholders from the area, including politicians, among them the councillor representing Tanglang Ward in Billiri LGA and Member representing Billiri East in Gombe State House of Assembly, Mr. Rambi Ayala.
Prior to the advocacy visits, Miss Nerus had conducted series of meetings with Kulgul residents, comprising community leaders, head of households, women groups and youth, where the community prioritised water as their major need.
The Kulgul Water Problem
For decades, Kulgul, a community of about 5,000 residents in Billiri LGA of Gombe state has been battling lack of potable water. This has also led to prevalence of water borne diseases in the community.
It is a representation of the communities captured by the 2017 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted by National Bureau of Statistics, which indicates that 69 million Nigerians do not have access to safe water.
The MICS (2017) added that 19 million Nigerians have to walk long distances to fetch unsafe water from lakes, streams, and rivers.
Kulgul is served by an artificial pond, where women and school-aged children gather in the early hours of every morning, to spend up to 2 hours on queue for water that hardly comes forth. It has over time led to pupils going to school late.
Nate Absolom, a resident, like most women in the community, wakes up at around 3am, to go and fetch water for her household chores.
“Anyone who waits till day break before going will certainly not get clean water, especially in this dry season. And when you go late, you have to remain on the queue for up to 2 hours, depending on the time you arrive and the length of the queue,” she told AFRICA PRIME NEWS.
According to her, “each person spends about 10 minutes sourcing the water, because the pond is usually dry.
“On the alternative, you have to buy water from water vendors who fetch from the nearby neighbourhood. That’s if you have money, because each 25 litre jerrycan is sold at N130. For how long, or even years will you be buying water from vendors? What of during emergencies when the vendors are not available?” she asked.
Also speaking, 58-year-old Vasty Ahmadu, born and bred in Kulgul, lamented the situation where residents of the community have continued to live without hope of access to clean water.
“Currently, if we go to the pond late, for example at 6am, the water colour is changed and not clean, and by 8am, there’s hardly any water again, especially in the dry season like the month of April,
“We don’t know what is happening, our boreholes have dried up. Is it because the boreholes were not sunk too deep to reach the water table, or what?
“We have four boreholes in the community, but for more than 10 years, none is working. This has continued to affect our way of life, and keeps making our children go to school late.”
Village Head of Kulgul, Alhaji Danladi Magaji Musa, told AFRICA PRIME NEWS that the community currently has no functional water borehole.
Musa who had spent almost 17 years on throne said, the water problem had lingered despite past intervention of sinking boreholes by the Government and Philanthropic NGOs.
“This water problem has been on for a very long time, even during my father’s reign. Everyday women go out to fetch water early in the morning, spending hours before returning home.”
He narrated how a government contractor, about 10 years ago, constructed boreholes in the community and left without reaching the water table.
“After a visit to the then Commissioner of Water Resources by the community, he (Commissioner) directed the contractor to return to site to add more pipes below until it reaches the water table. The contractor came back and added pipes as instructed, but the boreholes didn’t function for a long time before they stopped working,” he said.
“To be honest, we’ll appreciate any support that will bring an end to the water scarcity in this community.
“We appreciate Bathsheba for undertaking this advocacy project. We pray the right authorities will act and address our problem.
The Advocacy Work
Bathsheba Nerus has a passion for community work, this had led her to get involved with organisations like the YMCA and the BLOOM INNOVATIONS. She was also trained by Leadtot, an NGO, under its ‘Young Women Political Mentorship Programme’ where they were encouraged to embark on community projects.
Miss Nerus first went to Kulgul for a school field trip, under the “Theatre for Development” Course.
She told AFRICA PRIME NEWS, “From my meetings with them, the community is soliciting for repairs of the malfunctioned boreholes, and if possible, construction of new ones in other parts of the community.”
Based on recommendation and mapping, “we reached out to well-meaning individuals of the said community, including elected representatives, to see if they could address such a pressing and life-threatening matter.
“The response was not encouraging at the beginning and most people kept saying, the water level in Kulgul is low, others would even say, there are water projects there already. These were the statements we keep getting,” she said.
Despite the negative responses, Miss Nerus kept pushing and met with the village head and other community members, who agreed that “we should continue with the advocacy and reach out to more people we are yet to reach.”
She however said her interaction with the Member representing Billiri East in Gombe State House of Assembly, Mr. Rambi Ayala was promising, “he asked us to bring a geological survey of the community which we did.
“We are optimistic that work will soon commence in the community,” she added.
Looking Ahead
In an interview with AFRICA PRIME NEWS, the Councillor representing the Ward in Billiri Local Government Council, Mr Ezekiel Bokos, said he was not too familiar with the depth of the water scarcity in Kulgul but added that he will visit the community for a first-hand assessment of the situation.
I promise you; I will go to Kulgul myself and appraise the situation and I will personally table the matter before the council for additional water borehole in the community.
I will also participate in the ongoing effort to ensure Kulgul has potable water,” he said.
In a chat with AFRICA PRIME NEWS, the Member representing Billiri East in Gombe State House of Assembly, Mr. Rambi Ayala, who is also the Africa Director of Operations for a US-based NGO, Hope Springs International, known for water and education projects around Africa, said his organisation will execute the project.
“I received the report of the survey from Bathsheba. We have studied it and I must tell you the whole area has water problem – you have to dig deep in order to find water.
“I am happy to say that the report has identified four spots best suited for digging of water borehole in Kulgul, and we have chosen a location where we will site one.
“I have forwarded the recommendation to our headquarters, once we get approval, work will commence,” he said.
“I commend Bathsheba for the tireless effort in assisting Kulgul community to get potable water. I wish more of our youths will learn from her and identify areas of need, and take initiatives towards addressing them.
Kulgul has produced prominent sons and daughters, including politicians currently occupying government positions, but it is clear, none of them is involved in the current effort of bringing potable water to the community.