Osun schools pupils, rural dwellers express joy over provision of portable water by EU/UNICEF
The Pupils of St. Peter's Anglican School, Inisa in Odo-Otin Local Government areas of Osun State have lauded the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) for providing portable water for them in the school premises.
Also, the residents of Saani-Otin community in Oyan expressed their gratitude to EU/UNICEF for the provision of handpumps in different locations in the community and make life better for them.
The pupils and the community dwellers said their pains have vanished since the handpumps were provided for them and that they have been enjoying portable water.
The President of the School Health Club, Master Raphel Afolabi said the handpump has made it easy for the pupils to get water to drink during the school hour. He said they are also getting water to take care of their hygiene, particularly to clean the toilet and the environment and to wash their hands after using the toilet.
The handpumps were provided through counterpart fund arrangement in which the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) collaborated with the Federal Government, Osun State Government and the Odo-Otin Local Government for the water project.
The Vice Chairman of Saani-Otin community, Pastor Amos Olabisi Adeosun while speaking on behalf of the entire resident of the community said the dearth of portable water which was the major problem in the community has become history since the handpumps were provided for the community.
Adeosun said "Water scarcity was our major problem in this community before the handpumps were provided for us. In the past, our wives and children were fetching water from a stream but the water was not clean. The water we are fetching from the handpumps now is clean and safe for drinking."
One of the housewives in the community, Mrs Julianna Idowu who was sighted fetching water from one of the handpumps at Saani-Otin said that the provision of the portable water has made life easy for her and enabled her to perform her duties as housewife with less stress.
Julianna said "unlike before, I'm not wasting time going to the stream to fetch water again. Now, I fetch water from the handpumps and the water is very clean. Water scarcity was a big problem that almost forced me to leave this community but that problem has been alleviated."
General Manager, Rural Water and Environmental Sanitation Agency (RUWESA) in Osun State, Alhaji Adiatu Olaposi said the EU/UNICEF Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme II involves provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene facilities in Communities, Schools, Health Centres and Public Places.
He noted that that 480 handpumps and solar boreholes have been provided in Odo-Otin, Ifedayo and Ayedaade local government areas while 129 others are ongoing and that the projects would provide portable water for about 60,000 people.
He stated that EU/UNICEF contributed 70 percent of the cost of the projects, the state government constituted 15 percent, the local government contributed 10 percent while the communities also contributed five percent of the funding.
