This might be hard to believe, but it’s
the reality. Operators of commercial
water boreholes in Abia State do
embark on fetish rituals and sacrifices to
draw customers to themselves and
make more money than their colleagues. In so doing, they put the lives of their
customers in danger by hiding charms,
amulets and even live animals in their
tanks so that water drinkers will always
want to buy water from their pumps. This secret was revealed by members of
the Borehole Association of Nigeria,
after they carried out a washing exercise
on water tanks of commercial borehole
operators in Aba and Umuahia. They said that most terminal diseases
that attack organs of the body and kill
their victims come from such water that
has been contaminated right from its
source of supply. Chairman of the
association, Chief Sunday O. Samson, who spoke on behalf of other members,
regretted that water, which should have
been the safest liquid to be taken by
human beings, has become a source of
death. “Water is one of the most
essential nutrients of the human body. It is also considered to be the safest
among the liquid intake into the human
body system as it lubricates the body
system, washes and evacuates
unwanted dangerous particles that can
pose as health hazards to the body. But it has become dangerous to man. “We discovered during the recent
washing of some tanks that commercial
borehole operators, who want to make
money at all cost are the ones causing
most of the deaths that should have
been avoided.” The chairman, who spoke while in company of other
members, said that they discovered
charms, sacrifices and even tortoise,
suspected to have been used for rituals,
swimming inside the tanks of some of
the commercial borehole operators, whom they suspect must have done this
to attract patronage. He lined up different bottles of colour
water, which he said were samples of
water discovered in the boreholes of
some influential men in Aba, Abia state.
“These are samples of the water we got
from the tanks of big men in this state, people whose tanks we washed. These types of water contain different
types of sicknesses and diseases. Some
of the people who own those tanks that
we washed, we discovered that they
have charms and amulets inside their
tanks so that once somebody fetches water from that tank, the person will
surely come back to them on regular
basis. Some of them, we found tortoise
swimming inside their tanks and from
such tanks, water is sold to the public. When you innocently take such water,
you would not know that you are
contacting some dangerous and
incurable disease. Many people have
died through their water intake. Some
of the people even tried to bribe us so that we will not wash their tanks
because they know what is inside. Besides killing innocent people, they
also covet the luck of people through
their evil endeavours. You see
somebody who said that he is selling
water only building three storey
buildings as well as doing some other things that are amazing to people. Once
people drink water from their borehole,
they covet the destinies of such people
and money will keep coming to them.” They called on the state government to
put a measure through which such
people will be checked in order to save
the lives of innocent citizens. “We are
professionals in the field and we can
drill water to the depth of about two to three hundred feet, but government
prefers giving jobs to non-professionals
who will take greater chunks of the
money and only bring out peanuts to
do a bad job. That is why you will see a borehole that
will produce water after it was sunk and
within two weeks to one month, it dries
up. It is the handiwork of quacks who
can dig twenty to thirty feet only for the
water to run for two days and dry up. Borehole business should be organized
in such a way that before any borehole
is sunk, government should be aware of
it to make sure that the right thing is
done. We have made several efforts to see the
governor of the state to explain that
things are not being done the right way
in this state to no avail. Civil servants
are the ones that hijack borehole
donations made by the federal government to the communities and
they would embark on a job that would
not stand the test of time. That is the
reason you can see a borehole that will
run for only one week and go dry. We are calling on the federal
government to intervene on our behalf
so that the job of borehole drilling goes
straight to the professionals.
“Consumers out there don’t understand
what they are drinking. If they do, they will revolt against the system because it
is like feeding a people with poison. The
only intention of commercial borehole
owners is to make money. So, instead of
giving their job to a professional, they
give it to quacks who would get any type of water for them to sell. “We in the association have whatever it
takes to sink a good borehole. We have
the technical know-how, the experience
and the equipment. Everybody should
not be a doctor and a lawyer. We have
electricians in our midst, welders, fitters, mechanics, fabricators, just name
them. So when we encounter any problem, we
find solution to it in our midst.
Government should help us to intervene
and sanitize the system so that things
can move forward. “Some of the
substandard materials they bring in from China can be manufactured here
with good standard. Government should help us to ensure
that water sanitation industry works
here. What the people are drinking here
is stagnant water. A borehole should be
washed and serviced regularly, but this
is not the case with us here. The water sector in Abia needs to be sanitized. Those who don’t know anything about
water are the ones that defraud the
federal government of billions of naira
without result. “A lot of boreholes that
are sunk close to sewage system should
be closed. The water industry should be sanitized. Drilling jobs should be
released to the professionals. MDG, NDDC, European Union
programmes are not working because
once a borehole is sunk, there is no
more maintenance. Millions are mapped
out for the job and a paltry sum used
for it.” The task Force chairman, Chief John Okafor said: “We made some
dangerous discoveries in the course of
washing or maintaining people s
boreholes. Some have charms inside
their tanks, some have tortoise inside,
while some attempted to bribe us not to wash their tank so as not to see what
they have in there. It is happening here in Aba,” he said.
Other members of the Association who
were in the meeting included the
secretary, Young Ewuzie, financial
secretary, Mazi Richard Igwe, Secondus
IhekweremeIkechi Chigozie Okeugo, Elder Charles Edokam, Elder Mmecha
Okoronkwo and Emma Onuoha, their
coordinator.
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