Water remains one of the most critical necessities that support human lives, its roles are crucial to survivability and its functions are innumerable.
However, this essential part of human lives is conspicuously absent in Gawu, a community under Sabo ward, Kuje Area Council, with a population of about 5,200 residents. The community has battled with water crisis for more than five decades, a situation which has greatly affected their socio-economic lives, as they have continually relied on muddy, contaminated and inconsistent stream water for sustenance, which has given rise to a lot of health challenges such as cholera, typhoid fever and even death sometimes.
This situation has also caused an overwhelming influx of the community residents to their Primary Health Centre which has a limited capacity to handle most of the cases brought to it.
The community, when approached through a town hall meeting sensitization by the Tracka team on 16 February, 2025, narrated how this ugly situation has negatively impacted their lives and livelihood generally. According to Maryam, a resident, lamented and said “We have been using this water since I was born in this community. I saw my parents using the same stream water for domestic activities. I’m now married, and my children are using it too. This is the only source of water we have in the community, despite its colour, we keep using it because we have no other choice. My children have always been in and out of our centre, and I have been told by the Nurse in charge that the sicknesses were due to lack of good water. Whenever we treat the sicknesses, it comes back again”
Miss Laruba Bulus described the daily struggle: “This water has caused us more trouble and pain than expected, but we are helpless. We come to the stream as early as 5 am and sometimes stay till 10 pm, especially when there’s a moon. We need water at home for cooking and bathing.”
Bakka Moses, a community member, also highlighted the challenges faced by men: “Sometimes we have to protect the water in this river from Fulani men because they use their cattle to destroy the water, and our women can’t fight them. That’s why we go to assist them.”
Furthermore, the community head, Mr. Goga Pashe, lamented the loss of lives due to water-borne diseases, “What can we do? Nothing, because the government has forgotten us and made us feel as if we are not part of Abuja. Kuje Area Council is one of the five area councils in FCT, which is even closer to town than Abaji and Kwali, but see the kind of suffering we undergo because of lack of good water in this modern day. Is it too much to ask for clean water for this community at this age and time?”
At Tracka, we have taken this up and called the attention of all relevant stakeholders to come to the rescue of the community and ensure the community is provided with a sustainable source of potable water. This we have done through letters that were written and delivered to the different representatives of the people and through our social media handles here.
It was great news to hear that about a week after these actions from us, representatives from Kuje Area Council have approached the community to assess the situation, and with a promise to bring succour to the people. We will remain resolute in following up with this project to ensure that the people of Gawu get the right representation and most especially, solution to this debilitating water crisis situation.
Story by: Garba Abdullahi and Osiyemi Joshua
