Agwa is a rural community in Wushishi Local Government Area (LGA) of Niger State. Most of the people in Agwa are farmers and fishermen. This community is facing numerous challenges such as poor access roads, however most pressing is the lack of safe and clean water supply, according to the community leader, Ibrahim Bello. He stated that the community members walk for 2km from their community down to a river that serves as the source of water supply to them.
The only borehole the community has access to is broken. Three other communities also depend on this river for their water source. The worrying issue according to Bello, is that the same river they are drinking from, is the river they wash their clothes in, bath in and their animals drink from the same water source. He added that once the river dries up, they have no other source of water supply now. Bello said a few months ago, the community was hit by a cholera outbreak, but fortunately no life was lost.
Lack of clean, safe, and quality water for drinking and other uses is a major cause of several infectious diseases including cholera and typhoid. The community want decision makers in Wushishi LGA and the Niger State Government to take up their responsibility and fix the only borehole in Agwa community. In addition, to reduce pressure on the current borehole, there is a need to construct new boreholes to supply water to the close to 5,000 people in the community.