ACReSAL, World Bank construct 17 solar-powered boreholes for 83 Nasarawa communities

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By Muhammed Ogwu, Lafia

The Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL), project of the Government of Nigeria in collaboration with the World Bank has constructed 17 solar-powered boreholes in 17 communities, and 408 solar-powered streetlights in 83 communities in Akwanga local government area of Nasarawa state.

The Federal impact assessment team, led by Mbalamen Yuwa, disclosed this while speaking with journalists immediately after the inspection of the projects in Akwanga LGA of the state.

Our correspondent reports that those communities had been ravaged with the farmer-herder conflicts in Akwanga LGA.

According to her, projects were able to achieve success through a collaborative and maximum cooperation given to SPMU by traditional leaders, local government officials, and community members in the areas, disclosing that the projects were carried out between March and May 2023 respectively.

Her words, “Out of the 83 communities that have benefited from the World Bank projects 22 had suffered from cholera, intestinal parasites and typhoid related issues.

“The 22 communities which before now had no access to basic infrastructure for clean water in Akwanga LGA and had to walk 3-4 kilometers to collect water for domestic use, agriculture, and livestock as the long daily treks to collect water has made children lost school hours,” she added

She continued, “Drinking water contaminated by animal waste, many suffered from waterborne ailments such as intestinal parasites, typhoid and cholera. Along with poor sanitation and insect bites, water quality problems resulted in a large number of hospital visits and even deaths, especially among children. The lack of electricity left the community vulnerable to animal attacks, snakebites, and even robberies at night.”

She further explained that with the constructed of the 17 solar-powered boreholes in 17 communities has offered a great opportunity to 13,000 residents in Akwanga LGA to clean and safe drinking water, noting that this has also improved their health and their livelihoods.

She, therefore, posited that the cases of cholera and gastrointestinal disorders have drastically been reduced, saying that hospital visits, school attendance has improved considerably and reducing farmer-herder conflicts in the communities.

She maintained that the construction of the solar-powered streetlights have drastically tackled the persistence of snake bite and robberies in the entire community, affairming that tension between herders and farmers over drinking water has also been reduced to a bearest minimum.

One of the beneficiaries who spoke to our correspondent in an interview Rakiya Adamu, explained that for over twenty years she used to make one bag of 50 measures per day due to the long distance of the stream from her house, nothing that with the construction of the solar-power boreholes she makes 8 bags of 50 measures per day selling at 100 naira per measure.

According to her, “My profit has increased to 8-fold, from 5,000 to 40,000 naira (~USD 3-24) per day above the national poverty line of 30,000 naira per day in rural Nigeria.”

“People come from Plateau, Kano, and Bauchi States on market days and buy up all her cassava and soliciting for more as a result of availability of clean water,” she added.

Another Fulani who also benefited from the projects Aisha Ibrahim said was able to sell her milk products (nono) for higher prices, and have also expanded into producing other popular drinks such as Zobo (a hibiscus flower drink) and Kunu (a corn/millet drink).

She said, “Her daily profits have increased by 1,000 naira per person, helping them to be more self-reliant.”

She explained that the livestock was contaminating the community’s sole source of water, exacerbated the conflict, leading to the herders removing their children from the community school.

“Our animal health has been improved. Where a Fulani cattle owner would spend around 3 million naira (~USD 1,800) on veterinary care to treat ailments contracted from drinking contaminated water from the streams.

They spent around 600,000 Naira (~USD 360) after the intervention, saving around 2.4 million Naira (~USD 1100).

The improved health of cattle has raised our selling price: a two-year old cow that fetched 100,000 – 150,000 Naira (~USD 60-90) earlier, now sells at 300,000 – 350,000 naira (~USD 180 – 210) because they grow healthy and fat,” one of the beneficiaries added.

Leading the State Project Management Unit (SPMU), Dr. Napoleon Gyobe-Elias, the State Project Coordinator charged the beneficiaries to guide the projects with all jealousy against any form of vandalization and ensure its maintenance at all times.

He then disclosed that the intervention offers a scalable solution to similar challenges across the state and beyond, nothing that the Nasarawa SPMU of ACReSAL plans to replicate this intervention in the remaining 12 local government areas of the State and other ACReSAL states and the whole of Nigeria.

He said, “The provision of clean water has also increased economic activities in Ungwan Makama, a community of more than 80 households, almost every household now produces fried cassava (garri), a staple food in Nigeria.”

Our correspondent reports that local leaders who are visibly happy described the 2024 as a conflict-free year, marking significant progress in fostering peace and stability in the area. As a result, herders have also reduced their earlier practice of taking their cattle through farms to the drinking water stream.