GRASSROOTS TALK: Council questions produce blank faces

Muoka Irabor and other residents of Abia community, Esan West Local Government, Edo State, drink rainwater. This is the only option available to them since the only borehole they have causes strife each time it produces water. Water seldom comes from it, though.

Abia is 60 kilometres from Benin City, and since its borehole was commissioned in 2006, water supply has been erratic. The few times water is available, it is a struggle, as the number of residents outweighs its capacity.

It is not just water that is in short supply in the community. The only primary school in the area is over-populated. The four classrooms in the school are without chalkboards and ceilings. It has no hospital, and the only health care centre hardly has drugs.

Unattractive sources of water

"The (borehole) project was a federal one, but the state government took over," Mr. Irabor said. "It works once in a while, but we in Upper Abia don't go there to fetch water. This is because it might result to fight."

He was speaking to researchers from the Orderly Society Trust, a civil liberties group collaborating with the Human Development Initiative, a research-based non-governmental organisation, to conduct a survey which aims to examine how to make local governments work in Nigeria.

The survey, titled "Making Local Governance Work," started on April 14, 2009, and will last for eight days in 13 states around the country.

Water is a scarce commodity in Abia. It is so out of reach, politicians leave it out of campaign promises, said Mr. Irabor.

"There is no river here," he said. "Even the politicians don't promise to give us water; they only say they will try."

He said the council is incapable of providing water as he has seen boreholes that have failed to produce water.

Hence, the residents devised a unique way of collecting water. They built a reservoir in the ground and covered it with corrugated zinc set at an incline so that it can collect rainwater from the roofs of nearby buildings.

Mr. Irabor says that this is their primary water source. It costs N5, 000 to fill the reservoir in dry season.

Abandoned buildings

On Friday, April 17, 2009, the Orderly Society Trust (OST) researchers went in search of a "skills acquisition centre" the council chairperson, Felix Akhabue, was said to have completed. Esan West council officials claimed the centre would be found in Abia.

The OST field workers found two buildings, which looked abandoned. Their surroundings were overgrown with weed and no path led to them. Those interviewed said they were not sure what they were for, or who built them.

"Somebody said it is a library," said Ms. Ewanisha, a resident of the village. "But I don't know who built it. I didn't ask them because it is not my business."

Government for the people

Asked if there were meetings between the elected and the electorate of the council on deciding what projects should be budgeted for, Mr. Irabor, said, "No. I want to know how much they (council officials) are spending, but I don't know how I will get it. If we need any information from them, we can't get it."