Abuja – The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) on Tuesday called on the Federal Government to provide potable water to Nigerians to meet their domestic needs.
The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
Wabba made the appeal to underscore the celebration of the 2016 World Water Day, with the theme “Better Water, Better Jobs”.
NAN reports that the World Water Day is celebrated on March 22 every year to create awareness to the global water crisis.
He said that the provision of water by the federal government for its citizenry should be given a top priority.
“Water should not be privatised, and should not be out of the reach of the ordinary people in any society.
“It is essential because, it is one requirement that is needed in every home and every family.
“I think we have tried to canvass around the issue of making water available not only making water available, but ensuring that it is clean and potable water that people can use to meet their domestic needs.
“We need to make water available and accessible in our local areas, people cannot access potable water even in Nigeria, we are in the mist of plenty but yet we cannot have potable water,” he said.
Wabba said that waterborne, communicable diseases such as cholera, among others, were on the increase due to lack of potable water in some part of the country.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
He also sighted environmental degradation as part of the challenges facing provision of clean, potable water to those people living in the oil producing states.
Wabba further said that the issue of drought and desertification in the north posed challenges to the provision of potable water for the people.
He decried attempts to privatise water and make the commodity out of the reach of the common man.
“This is something that is worrisome and all of us should work together to ensure that water is provided for indigent Nigerians and it must be free.
“Government should continue to provide such services free to our people,” he added.
The NLC president said that the reason for shortage of potable water in the country was due to government’s inability to tackle developmental challenges.
He noted that as the population expands, infrastructure such as water should also be extended.
He added that existing facilities, which have been overstretched, had not been expanded or replaced over the years.
“We have new settlements and most of them have not been provided with basic amenities like water.
“I think the best thing to do is for our governments; from local government to state and federal, to give it a priority for potable water to be provided in all settlements.
“This certainly requires some resources, which could be limited, but it is also about priorities.
“So they should be able to make it a priority to make clean, potable water available in all communities.
“This is a responsibility that the three tiers of government must actually continue and actually share,” he added. (NAN)