Corp Member Commissions a N650, 000 Borehole

Posted By Yiro Abari
The primary reason why the National Youth Service Corp was founded was to foster unity among the people of Nigeria. The quest by Corp members to find recognition has however led to situations where members embark on projects which they leave behind as legacies to their host communities. Most projects of Corp members are usually minor ones, at least from the point of the financial implications. Thus, it is a big surprise to hear a Corp member commissioning a project worth N650, 000. That is exactly what Emmanuel Nkechinyere Flora from Anambra State did when she successfully commissioned a borehole for Gura Kukum at Tuduan Wada, her immediate host community in Jos North.

One day she fell sick after carrying water from a remote location to her house as a result of the difficulty of getting portable water in the neigbourhood. The water situation, according to her, is so thorny that women and children wake up as early as 2 PM to search for water, risking their lives while doing so. One choice they have is to go to the river to get water which she confessed is unsuitable for human use. These conditions compelled her to take up a challenge to drill a borehole for the people of Gura Kukum at Angwan Clinic, as a personal community project. It turned out to be the only borehole in that community of 70 000 people.

The first question that comes to mind when one hears the cost of the project is how she was able to raise the money. She said immediately she conceived the idea she went to an organization, M E Ofodile. The organization cooperated by undertaking the geophysical survey to locate a position with the best chance of getting water. Another agency, this time from the Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development, Plateau Rural Water supply and Sanitation Agency undertook the drilling of the borehole as a result of the benevolence of Idi Waziri, its Commissioner. The State’s Water Board supplied the hand pump.

The Ward Head of the benefitting community, Da Stephen P Zang could not hide his gratitude for the Corp member for her ability to do what previous government administrations have not been able to do, despite the resources available to them. He recommended Nkechinyere for an award and said he has learnt a lesson that has thought him to admonish their own children serving in other states to try to do same to their host states. He said that their quest for a convenient source of water supply in the ward dates back to 1995 and that it is surprising that a Corp member that has been able to overcome this problem for them. Within the period of their struggle for water, he says the best thing the were able to achieve was a network of pipes that have never hosted or channeled water since they were installed by one of the previous administrations. He however expressed confidence that the present administration would finally consolidate on their water needs by ensuring that portable water reaches every nook and cranny of his ward.

Recently, a local government Chairman was elected for Jos North. Da Zang expressed his awareness of the fact that the new chairman has plans for all the wards in the area. His community will hence wait patiently for their turn to benefit from the plans of the new chairman. The ward will thus give the necessary support to any government, its official or agency that is willing to do anything to help his ward.

The most basic need of all humans is portable water supply. One wonders why the problem of portable water is ubiquitous in every community East, West, North or South of Nigeria. If leaders can act with the type of determination and patriotism of Nkechinyere, we will be able to go far.