MORO, A COMMUNTY IN OGUN WHERE ‘GUTTER-WATER’ IS THE ONLY SOURCE THEY HAVE TO DRINK FROM
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Joseph Omoniyi
One of the basic and essential need of every man is water, because, water itself they say is life. Not just water, but clean and germ-free. For the residents of Moro community and its environs, in Yewa North local government area of Ogun State, getting good and clean water is a ‘luxury’, as the only source available for them to drink from, is gutter-water which they often share with fulani-herdsmen’s cows.
Hotjist paid a visit to Moro and its environs after being alerted about the exteremely poor condition of living in the area and shockingly, what looks like an irritating sight that one can easily mistake for a pothole in the urban area, is where members of these community and its surroundings ‘joyfully’ get their water from which they use for cooking, bathing and drinking.
According to the residents, this dirty water is what they celebrate they get during the rainy season, because this is the only period that can have access to such ‘luxury’ in the area, as during the dry season, it takes a whole day journey for them to fetch a keg of water.
Speaking with Hotjist, Olusesan Jonathan Adeisha, who was born and bred in the community talked about how they terribly suffer due to lack of water, “this community is one the oldest in this area and source of good water is one of the few things we beg government to provide for us. We suffer a lot to get water. During the dry season, we may not bathe for 4-to-5 days, because during this period, we have to travel more than 11-kilometres to fetch 30-litres of water for N300. As a result, many have died of numerous diseases like cholera and the likes”.
Another resident who also spoke about how lack of water has made healthy living unrealistic for them said, “Sometimes, we leave our clothes for 4-to-5 months before washing. We use the little we have for drinking and cooking”. Our women travel for close to 24hours to get water where it is available and closest to us.”
When members of this community realised that ‘big and many promises’ during the electioneering period are the only ‘projects ’ their government could offer them, they had rallied round to dig well and make borehole water for themselves, but they met huge disappointment as they discovered that their land is filled with limestone; “we have tried, we have spent a lot of money to make borehole, but because this land is a land of limestone, that dream has become unachievable for us. It will take big engines for us to be able to drill the land up to where we can get good water”.
Apart from lack of good water, the community also lamented how fulani-herdsmen and their cows have been making life unbearable for them as they usually come during the 10th/11th month to ravage their farms. As a result, they garner very tiny harvest. And protesting this act of prejudice by the fulanis will mean their houses getting razed, their women raped and their school children getting matcheted.
“We live in fear during the dry season, because that is when the fulanis with their cows usually come to dwell among us and when they come like that, they destroy our farm produce and rape our women. We have cried severally to the authorities but nothing has been done uptill now”, another resident of the area, Jacob Obushu said.
Although the major need these people cried out for is clean water, as they have resulted to fate on other needs their government is expected to provide for them. For example, good roads, clinic. They did not even talk about light. What they called clinic looks like a madman’s hideout and their unmotorable roads deprived them of commercialising their little farm harvests to make money, especially during the rainy season. Imagine you travel out of the area and coming back you cannot access your house, because of the extremely poor condition of the roads. They have lost quite a number of pregnant women during labour, while travelling to the nearest good clinic. Their school populated by children who cherish education so much, lies in the middle of a bush.
Clinic 
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