Residents of Kasatchiya, in the Gujba Village in Yobe State, are urgently calling on the government to repair boreholes that were destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents.

The village was recently reclaimed by the military.

The villagers told RNI that they were desperate for water because the insurgents had destroyed their boreholes. “Water is life,” they said.

Zaram Modu Kasatchiyaye, a resident, told RNI that the lack of water was a “great hardship”. Their only source of water was the well, but residents were too scared to drink that water which, they said, could be poisonous.

Resident Bulama Gana said the lack of water had resulted in many people leaving Kasatchiya for neighbouring villages.

“We are appealing to government, non-governmental organisations and individuals to help us. We urgently need our boreholes to be repaired,” he said.

The residents said the importance of water could not be overemphasised. They pleaded with the government to repair the damaged boreholes as soon as possible.

Water scarcity is not a new phenomenon. Its importance was recognised in one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals; goal six calls for “clean water and sanitation for all”.

The World Health Organisation has said that an individual needs a minimum of 10 litres of water a day to survive. It said water was essential for life, health and dignity.