Lagos — Cheers as FG Sinks 150 boreholes in troubled Communities

Daniel Aneke, 57, stayed in Lagos for 19 years. He got married and had all his five children at the former federal capital.

From Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Aneke dealth in motor tyres and was doing very well in the business until 1980 when he ran aground. He battled to revive the business but to no avail and opted to return to his village home in Ebonyi State to re-direct his life in 1986.

Barely a year he got home, his wife, the last born, Sam, and himself were attacked by guinea worm.

All three were afflicted ontheir legs.

As people, who just returned from the city, it took time for Aneke and his family to realise what exactly befell them.

Then, the guinea worm had terribly eaten their legs, leaving them in terrible state. While Aneke and his wife are till date left with flappy legs, little Sam, now fully grown up, was left deformed on the right leg. He walks, throwing the leg.

The problem of guinea worm in Ebonyi is as old as the people. Across the state, particularly in the North and Central Senatorial districts, many have been left deformed by the menace.

Solomon Nwekwe, a primary school teacher in Ohaozara Local Governement Area of the state, at the commissioning ceremony of 46 of the 150 boreholes, being sank across the state by the Federal Government, as part of its avowed step aimed at tackling the scourge once and for all, could not agree less with the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Amina Ndalolo, that guinea worm had remained the greatest health problem in the state.

"In most parts of the state,people had had parts of their bodies detroyed by guinea worm. The problem is particularly serious in the rural areas, where good portable drinking water is not available.

"You will be amazed if you see what the disease has done to people in parts of the state," Nwekwe said, Sylvester Uyana, full of praise for the federal government for the borehole initiative across the state, particularly in the rural areas, cutting in to add his voice.

"The situation had been terrible. Apart from the disease being known to have chopped off people's legs, it has rendered many deformed one way or the other.

"There are cases of those, who are unable to seek medical attention, dying of the disease. There have been so many cases of deaths, resulting from guinea worm attacks in parts of the state.

"It has always been known that the problem has more to do with lack of good drinking water. People go into bushes to fetch from dirty streams to drink and for other uses. Some of the streams are terribly bad, some are covered with rotten leaves, with worms of all manners and tadpoles swimming in them. Some of them are muddy. These are what people fetch to drink and use for other purposes. There is no way of purifying them before use.

"All these were known to past governments but they didn't give a damn. The people have cried and cried, no body cared to listen to them,

"This is why anybody here today, has cause to be thankful to the Obasanjo government for this bold initiative aimed at tackling this problem that has afflicted us for ages".

In total agreement with Uyana, Lawrence Egwu, a staff of Abakaliki Local Government said if past administrations had attempted a third of the current effort of the federal government at tackling the guinea worm scourge, it would have by now been a thing of the past in the state.

In Egwu's words: "Guinea worm had been ravaging the state for years, killing and deforming people. Government officials come here, mouth it, see for themselves, make promises and never return. From the days of the old Eastern Region, through the Second Republic, and the period of military interregnum, government had never shown concern like we are currently witnessing.

"We have been shouting and crying that all we need to get past the problem was to be provided with good portable water but nobody listened, nodody took us seriously.

"As you can see, the Obasanjo and Sam Egwu administrations have proven that they not only listen but care."

At the commissioning ceremony of the boreholes, the people's joy knew no bounds as they heap priases on the federal government.

Mrs. Eunice Okoro, a petty trader, who was one of the first people to fetch a bucket of water at one of the newly commissioned borehole, fell on her kneels to thank Dr. Ndalolo, who led the fedreal team, who came to commission them, saying: "At last, the end of my suffering for water has come. I would not have to travel kilometres into bushes anymore to get muddy water to drink . We are grateful to Obasanjo. Whatelse, does one needs from a government again? We have been suffering for years for water, this is the best thing to have happended to us."

Madam Davis, as she simply identify herself, on the other hand, said only last year her daughter, who went to a stream in the bush to fetch water was bitten by a snake.

"Gloria almost died of the snake bite.

She was down for six months, sick. She ended up missing her senior secondary school certificate examination because of the sickness.

"Since that incident, we go into that bush to get water in fear, all the same, we keep going their because we have no alternative.

"We are grateful that God has at last heard our prayers through Obasanjo", Madam Doris remarked.

Madam Lydia Nwakwo, 68, from Izzi Local Government Area, who described herself as a small scale farmer and said she had had guinea worm attack thrice, on the other hand, explained that her children had warned her against drinking water from the streams but found the table water they recommended for her too expensive.

"May God bless Obasanjo, I will be fetching water to the farm now from home. When I kept having guinea worm attacks, my children warned me against drinking stream water but I could not continue with buying the table water as it proved too expensive for me even though they were sending me money .

"It was impossible to be buying N60 bottle of Ragolis or Swan water daily. It was too expensive for me. So, I resorted to using the two together. When my children are around, I buy table water, when they travel back to the city, I go back to Stream water.

The stream water is terrible is bad, you will not have anything to do with it if you see it, but that is what we have been drinking here. These boreholes provided us would go a long way to solve our water problem.

"At last, they have found a solution to the guinea worm Scourge here", the aged woman sounded confident.

Dr.Ndalolo, who was overwhelmed by praises being lavished on the federal government by the people, managed to utter a word or two to further boost their morale .

The government, he told them, was committed to sinking 150 boreholes across the state, saying that the 46 commissioned in the North and Central Senatorial districts were the begining of the determination of the federal government to ensure adequate water supply in the state and a final blow on guinea worm in the area.

The federal government, the Minister said, recognises guinea worm as the greatest health problem in the state and was determined to stem it once and for all.

He tasked the people to protect the boreholes from vandalisation.