Group urges govt to provide clean water in communities to curb waterborne diseases

…Marks International World Water Day in Bodo Community, Rivers State

Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, a non-governmental organisation, has called on the Federal and Rivers State governments to provide constant water supply in Bodo City, Gokana Local Government Area, to stop water-related diseases in the community.

Emem Okon, executive director of Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, made the call Wednesday at an event to mark the 2026 International World Water Day.

She noted that all other local sources of water supply in the past in the area are no longer in existence.

Speaking to an audience at Tegu Waterfront in Bodo City, Gokana Local Government Area, Okon drew the attention of the political class and community leaders to the importance of clean water.

Represented at the event by Idogesit Smart, the programme officer of Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, Okon maintained that the theme of this year’s event ‘Water and Gender’ emphasised that water isn’t just a human-rights issue, but an equality issue.

According to her, when one billion women still lack clean and safe drinking water and girls spend about 250 million hours a day collecting it, the crisis is felt hardest by them.

Emem explained that in the Niger Delta, where water bodies are polluted by hydrocarbon; community schools, health centres do not have water supplies and women lack clean water to use for their families and to service their petty enterprises; have increased the call for access to clean drinking water.

“Today remains significant, because water access is important to life, health, education, livelihood, and opportunity right in our neighbourhoods,” she said.

She stated that when and where water is unavailable, women and girls lose time and safety and called on communities, government and even individuals to

involve women in water committees, because they are in a better position to know the importance of water.

She tasked policy markers to listen to women in water projects and also support women water projects in various communities, while pushing for adequate policies that fund and empower women.

“Men, women, girls, boys, babies, persons with disability need water to live,” she said.

Stella Amayie, a civil society activist, said that over 2 billion people all over the world lack access to water supply.

She called on government at all levels to make adequate budget to provide clean water for citizens.

Amayie expressed concerns over the lack of portable water in local communities and how expensive it is to buy, since the responsibility of providing water rests on women.

Constance Meju, one of the board members of Kebetkache Development and Resource Centre and a publisher of a newspaper, Bodo City Community, to report the case of lack of water to government and its agencies such as the state government, local government and the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Programme (HYPREP) to look into the epileptic supply of water in the community.

As earlier stated, the theme of this year’s event was ‘Water and Gender’ with the slogan, “Where water flows, equality grows.”