Corporate organisations can help in providing water

by Okechukwu Enechi

 

It was Sunday afternoon; a lady emerged from a dusty pathway of a village with container on her head. She looks over 28 years but her real age may be between 19-23 years. Mere looking at her physique, you will know she is aged more than her real age due to the stress she go through daily. Strapped on her back is a baby, breathing so hard, coughing intermittently and eyes full of dirt. Without any medical diagnosis, you will quickly agree he has serious cold and cough, probably caused by exposure to harsh weather and dusty environment.

She is going to a stream, located about 10 kilometers away. It is the only stream around the area that is source of water for over five communities. Sometimes they spend as much as 12hrs at the stream waiting for turns to fetch a container of water not more than 20ltrs. But today, she is lucky and allowed to jump the line because of her baby. She spent only 5hrs. Others that do not have the patience to take their turns following the line had to take brownish ‘colored’ water that is full of red soil. They believe when it settles, it can be used in the house for washing, cooking and even drinking. Fetching water is a daily routine for her. She is as good as not doing any other thing except looking for water for the family to use daily. As she is walking home, balancing the container on her head with the baby grunting and crying, she came close to tears, asking herself questions that she don’t know where to seek answers from. When will this end? Can’t anybody help the village and ameliorate the suffering? She remembered the day some people came from the LG council and promised them borehole but it’s been over 2 years now and nothing is seen. She remembered how politicians come to them when election period approaches, promising them water if elected. Even some people that came with equipment to the village telling them they have come to build bore hole for them have not shown face again. In front of her house in the village stands a telecommunication mast erected by one of the giant telecommunication companies. She wished the mast is a water tank but it is not. Though she is not educated, she thinks that the company that erected the mast can help the village if they had wanted to. She thinks if the government decides not to help the village, companies that erected the mast at least should help or even well-meaning individuals can come to the village’s rescue. Back home from the stream, she is tired and could not do any other thing. For a whole day, she has only succeeded in getting 20 liters of water that is not enough for the family’s daily use.

And the reality is that every day in Nigerian rural communities, people go through this. The situation has continued to entrench cycles of poverty and leads to avoidable deaths daily. It is because of this scenario that the world came together in 2000 to agree eight millennium development goals and set 2015 as a milestone which is generally believed if achieved will rid the world of avoidable poverty and death. Provision of clean water is central to achieving these goals. With clean water provided, the women and children will be freed to do other things that will improve their economic and social status thereby reducing the level of poverty in the society; water related diseases would be eradicated, avoiding unnecessary deaths. Today, it is becoming clearer that Nigeria’s march towards achieving the goals in 2015 is mixed. At this age, cholera and other water related diseases are still killing people in Nigeria. Government and international donor agencies are left to take on this challenge of providing water to the people, but corporate organizations that make huge profits and budget substantial sums for CSR are turning blind eye to this critical challenge. Instead of turning blind eyes, the corporate organizations can do something. With less than 5% of the total CSR budget, a company can build more than two boreholes for a community depending on the size of their budget. What of the telecommunication companies? They can build boreholes at their mast locations scattered in several rural communities that are in dire need of water. Water is life and it is too critical to be left alone for the government. The corporate world has a role to play in this aspect. Companies in India and the Latin America have come to accept this fact. They are providing water in rural areas as their CSR projects using alternative source of energy technology to power the boreholes. In the urban slum areas, they are being innovative, providing water at a little fee for maintenance of the borehole and power generators. Nigerian companies can do it and do it better.