It’s a yearly struggle … after the rainy season comes the thirsty season when the Modu Ajiri community in the Jere Local Government Area in Borno State runs out of water.
They know they will have to travel three to four miles, either on foot or by donkey, to get water and then the same distance back again. The road is not good and the water is very heavy.
But, as one resident put it: “Water is life. Without it we cannot survive.”
Villagers told RNI reporter Mustapha Abubakar that, although they were used to it and knew it was coming after the rains, they dreaded having to go for miles – sometimes every day, otherwise every second day – to get water at neighbouring Chabbal.
Ya Aisa, a villager, said: “It is hard to find water in our area. We depend on the rainy season for sufficient water but when it stops, water becomes scarce again. The long trek to Chabbal is the only thing we can do. A jerrycan is sold at ₦60 to ₦80 per gallon and most of us cannot afford it because this is a poor community.
“If you have children it is even harder. We need water to bath them, cook for them and wash their clothes. They also get thirsty in the day so we have to have enough to drink. We have asked the state authorities for solar-powered boreholes but they just ignore our pleas.”
Mommodu Koriya Ali Ajiri said: “Ever since I was born this region has always suffered from a water scarcity. I’m sure it happened before I was born and I’m sure it will happen when I am gone. We are villagers and poor people. We have a borehole but it needs a generator to run it. Everyone in the community used to contribute money to buy fuel for the generator but we are too poor and we stopped because we couldn’t afford it.
“We also used to take a vehicle to the dam where we filled tanks with water. But we couldn’t afford the fuel to drive the vehicle and now the dam has dried up anyway.
“It has been some years since we have been able to run the borehole generator. Now we get up at dawn and have to walk or ride our donkeys for three to four miles to get water at Chabbal. Three or four miles might not sound so far but when you are carrying water it feels very, very far.”
Ali Ajiri said sometimes they were unable to get water.
“We stay dirty because we cannot even wash our clothes. There is nothing else we can do. We don’t have any alternative. But I wish we did not have to suffer so much just to get a basic commodity such as water.”
Ali Ajiri said the community needed either non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or the local government to help them.
“At one time some NGOs helped us to get fuel to run the borehole generator. But that didn’t last long and we never saw them again. What we desperately need is solar-powered boreholes. That would put an end to all our troubles. We have approached government authorities but it is as if we had never spoken to them. They say nothing, they do nothing and we live without water. Water is life. Without it we cannot survive.”
Bulama Modu Ajiriye, a community leader of the Modu Ajari community, said three years ago a solar panel was installed to run the borehole but it got damaged in the rainy season and the wind blew it away.
“Our people suffer daily and have to travel to neighbouring Chabbal to get water. As leaders we have talked to the government. It sends out people who snap pictures and then leave. And we don’t hear from them again. We have begged and pleaded for the authorities to help. But still nothing. Most of us are farmers and it is our women who suffer the most because they are the ones who have to fetch water. We cannot go on like this. We need help urgently. We are suffering.”
AISHA SD JAMAL
