ENetSuD Meets RUWASSA On Water Water Problem In Kwara’s Rural Communities

Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), a Kwara-based Civil Society Organization known for its #FollowKwaraMoney, has paid an advocacy visit to the Kwara State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) to discuss water problem facing various rural communities in Kwara State. ENetSuD informed RUWASSA that various Kwara communities lack access to potable water, as revealed from our recent needs assessment of various communities.

ENetSuD asked RUWASSA to explain its relationship with UNICEF, which is known to be funding Water, Sanitation, and Healthcare projects in various states.

RUWASSA explained that UNICEF has not been executing water projects in Kwara State since 2013 as the KWSG refused to pay its counterpart fund. RUWASSA also highlight the plan of the present administration of KWSG to pay counterpart fund for water and execute projects, including Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (PE-WASH), recently budgeted by the KWSG. This will make UNICEF intervention in water and sanitation resume in Kwara like the primary healthcare intervention that recently resumed upon payment of counterpart fund by the KWSG.

RUWASSA mentioned borehole projects executed in communities like Edu (Bacita and Tsaragi), Baruten (Okuta and Ilesa Baruba), Ifelodun (Jimba Oja and Alegongo), Asa (Agbonna and Labuda), Oke-Ero (Ekan and Ilale). They also explained their efforts to campaign against open defecation in the State.

ENetSuD told RUWASSA that these 10 boreholes are very small for an agency of government to execute in a year amidst water problems in various rural areas and that we shall visit all these communities to fact-check the claims. ENetSuD noted that RUWASSA has 2 drilling machines, which are already dead and not serving any purpose again. We, therefore, urge the government to, as a matter of priority, look into this.

RUWASSA team members that attended to ENetSuD delegates are Bulhain M Danjuma (Acting General Manager), Yahaya T Mumeen (Head of Water Supply), Lawal S Nllao (Head of Water Quality control), Saidu B Mohammed (Accountant), Zubair Idris (Sanitation Officer), Samuel Saba Moses (Principal Geologist), Rufai Olalekan Azeez (Sanitation Officer). ENetSuD team comprised of Comrade Lanre Osho (Deputy Coordinator (Projects Tracking), Abdulraheem Olayemi Abdulrazaq (Monitoring Officer, Moro LGA), and Fatimah Binta Dikko (Monitoring Officer, Ilorin South LGA).