By Davy Fidel, Freelancer
Every 22 March of each year is a ritual day the world usually celebrates International World Water Day (IWWD). It is a day set aside for different liberal organizations and government agencies who will sit in a round table to hold seminars and emergency programmes to deliberate on the challenges around the shortages of water, and possibly a solution for a population in the world that is now more than seven billion people.
Most of the deliberations and seminars of these various agencies will be center on why water' is inevitable in human life, and the need of people having access to a portable drinking water. Probably at the end of these deliberations attached with proposals. The resolution will be that government should endeavour to provide portable water for people to drink. Ensured there is rapid eradication of water scarcity undermining whatever challenges.
Other suggestions will be that for portable water to be made available for the poor. The government should immediately commence projects of expanding the supply of water to many homes and communities as part of it's immediate social welfare intervention. Communities who dont or havent been able to have asses to portable water. Government must ensure it is provided for in order to curb the rise of water scarcity and reduce the numbers of people drinking infected water.
This is a basic necessity for every home and families to have access to drinking water. But the truth behind the blue moon is that, government in different part of the world running policies of privatization and commercialization, have decided to nail even the agenda of providing water for people to drink as something impossible to achieve. They dont any longer see it as their basic social responsibility to provide even when the need arises.
Instead, what government prefer to do is come out with unaccomplished projects that is never realistic. A project that is not going to benefit the masses residing in the various ghettos in both developed and undeveloped nations. These unaccomplished projects of government claiming to build new water station for water supply. Have testify itself realistically in the past and even now that people still suffers from chronic shortages of water; even with the so-called propaganda of government to provide water for the poor. Yet, it is zero. As the case maybe, project is an opportunity of siphoning public money.
All over the world, people are suffering daily from shortages of water supply because of the government policies of not providing adequate clean water for the poor in the various communities, cities and town. A very good example is in most backward countries in Africa and in the Middle East where people cannot afford. Europe, Asia and American is not also excluded. In fact, eight months ago Inter Press Service News reported more than Two Billion of the world population lack access to clean and safe drinking water.
More so, Monday 19 March, 2018 the United Nations World Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) said if nothing is done to eradicate the rise of people demanding clean portable water globally. "Some five billion people will be living in areas with poor access to water by 2050". The report further mentioned that "the population currently affected by land degradation, desertification and drought is estimated at 1.8 billion people, making this the worst natural disaster based on mortality and socio-economic impact relative to gross domestic product (GDP) per capita".
In spite of this shocking report. The big capitalist regimes should be blame for whatever cause the poor are suffering today. Government in this part of the world (Nigeria) has blindfolds its eyes and also stands to impoverished its citizens by not seeing the provision of water and other relative human needs as basic welfare to provide. Politicians thinks the need for development is of no use in a country with a population that is more Two Hundred and Fifty Million people living less a dollar. Poverty is on the rise. Joblessness, homelessness, hunger etc increase immeasurably on daily basis due to government policies recklessly implemented.
Lagos claiming to be the Epicentre of business and commercial activities don't have water. In fact, a lot of communities are denied from affrodable clean portable water. It has become a rare commodity than ever before, where only the rich benefitting from the system of government contracts can boost of having access to clean water in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, the provision of basic amenities to sustain life in this country is like public disturbance to the kind of government presiding and managing the affairs of tax payers money.
Going by the population of Lagos State, a lot of working class homes in the slum environ hardly afford clean water. They queue to fetched water from the dug pit usually described as well. It is used for cooking and also to run other domestics things at home. For example, in every ten homes, eight most likely uses "well water". In fact, in many communities where there is no Bourne Hole Water (BHW) the Ambode APC government had sanction that anyone caught digging Bourne Hole will pay a fine of One Hundred Thousand Naira. Undermining the ridiculous policies of government and the challenges slicing the poor. People will have to walk down to other neighboring community or five streets ahead of theirs to fetch water. They walk distance with gallons of different sizes to fill in their homes with water that can sustain them for a day or two before they go for another.
Realistically, it has become a huge crisis in the working class communities going down to fetched this unrefined water. The worst of it is that if there is no power supply for days. Hundreds, Thousands of people will have to go dry for that day because there is no electricity to pump water. People will start running hater-skater for the Bourne Hole water they fetch in the community. In Ajegunle, among the poorest ghetto in Nigeria and highly populated with poor settlers and residents. A 25 litre gallon of water for example is sold for N30. Then imagine the numbers of gallons people fetch everyday for their use at home.
Most people then will have to resort to the well water fully in order to cook or drink for the day. Ajegunle as an example, those who sell water rely more for electricity in order to pump water for the day. However, it is very unfortunate with the various bail out fund of N11 Trillion to rescue the electricity industry from the hands of private organizations interested only on profit since 1999 the various capitalist regime from the former President Olusegun Obasanjo down to the current President Mohammad Buhari. Nigeria still live in perpetual darkness, crippling a lot of Manufacturing firm and sending millions of Nigerians to the unemployment zone. With this situation at hand, the poor are the one mostly affected whenever this challenges arise. They go dry and sometimes pray for the wet season to come.
Since 1999 the All Progressive Congress (APC) had been in power (Lagos State) for 19 years now in managing the State resources, nothing fundamental has improve for the poor. It is just business as usual and attack against the poor masses with neo-liberal policies favouring the imperialist and capitalist corporate organizations. Under the then Fashola APC administration, tagged the working government amongst the Thirty Six governors.
The regime have only successfully looted the public treasury with the mumbo-jumbo project it's claim it had carried out of the Eight years in office. The regime then said its plan was to embarked through the Lagos State Water Corporation to construct 38 water facilities across the state with a production capacity of over 210 million gallons per day. (Vanguard 16/9/2014). Yet, more than half of the population in Lagos are in die need of portable drinking water.
Ambode APC regime is also guilty of this contractual philosophy of government using public money to execute private businesses in the name of the so-called developmental projects. Since 2015 the regime was in power, the only interesting project the government had been exercising is demolishing Lagos, creating additional suffering of people by taking food off the masses mouth. Thousands who manage petty trade in Oshodi to feed their family. Their shops, tents have been destroyed by the Lagos State Ambode government.
Not a single compensation or alternative provided for the people. Instead the government had to deployed police, task force team to execute this brutality. The real issue like lack of affordable clean water is not in the agenda of this APC regime. The propaganda of Lagos becoming a Mega-city in 2020 is just mumbo-jumbo and a terroristic propaganda. Despite this, the tycoons and syndicates have thumb the terroristic Ambode regime for 2019 to continue the assault against the poor living in Lagos.
The assurance contractual politicians give to provide better life for people is not reliable and cannot be trusted. The Lagos State government is a good example of what the APC nationally is doing in attacking the poor. The PDP is not also an exception in this crime of looting and contracting public amenities to the individuals and to themselves. In providing a portable clean water for the poor to drink, will amount the State taking full charge with socialist programmes and policies to actualize it. For example, there should be Water Generating Plant working in full capacity to increase the millions of gallon of water per day. In fact, the water plant should be constructed in all possible areas with full employment provided.
The Lagos State Water Corporation is a very good place to start from. The same should cut-across other existing States in the Federation where public money must be used to provide clean water for people in order to ensure the increase of us going dry doesn't continue. Also, people getting infected from contaminated water they drink be totally reduce. Perhaps, this also implies that for an effective Water Plant to run in full capacity, it mean the electricity industry must be nationalized under the democratic control and management by workers and the poor masses.
Subsequently, the five billion people in the world in year 2050 who would not be able to have access to clean water is also connected to the Global Warming caused by the global capitalist regimes internationally. Undermining the United Nations mentioned it as a shocking news, doesn't mean fundamentally it can resolve it. Therefore, it is only a world socialist order that end the this anarchism in global capitalism.
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