The people of Kuro village in Moro local government of Kwara state, North Central Nigeria were on Friday, thrilled and full of excitement, as the age long lack of water source came to an end, courtesy of an nongovernmental organization – LG-Rhythms Foundation.
According to the community head, Baale Zakariyahu Magaji, Kuro community had existed for more than a century without any source of portable and clean water supply.
“This water project is the first of its kind since the over 100years existence of Kuro. Before this intervention, we source water from streams about 2miles away. We go to Yantomu and Eleyo rivers, where we even share water with cows. We used to even dig the rivers to get water during dry season, as it runs dry”, Magaji said.
“We don’t know these people, we were surprised at their generosity towards us and we them. God answered our prayers through them and we thank them most sincerely”, he added.
According to the Imam of the community, Imam Olaoti, the water project would serve no fewer than five communities close to Kuro that also lacks portable water.
These communities, according to Imam Olaoti includes Olori, Aiyetoro, Onisapa, Owode, Kondo oke and Kondo Isale, each of which have an average of 50 to 60 inhabitants consisting of different tribes, including Yoruba, Fulani, Tiv, Udoma and Igbos who came to farm.
Founder of LG – Rhythms Foundation, Dr. Titus Ale in his address said “The provision of water to the people of Kuro is God’s doing, we were only divine tools. As an NGO, we are a set of people who never believed in attacking the madness in this world with another madness, but with love.
“As friends who came together to form an NGO, we don’t only come together to merry every year but also ensure we make people happy and it is our utmost fulfillment that we are able to make impact on the people of this village”, Ale said.
While promising to sustain the established developmental relationship with Kuro community, Ale urged residents of the community to ensure proper maintenance of the facility, so it can continue to serve its intended purpose of water provision.
In his own remarks, the Empowerment Chairman, Olugbenga Samuel Eleshin said while looking out for a community without access to water, they were surprised and sad to discover such a village very close to Ilorin, the Kwara state capital.
“We had another challenge while trying to implement this project, there’s no source of electricity supply to Kuro village, so we decided to power it with solar and I am glad, we are able to solve the water problem in Kuro village, today.”
An executive member of the NGO, Prof. Adelusi Michael urged the community members to make good use of the facility and secure it by ensuring that all efforts put into this will not be made a mere mockery of an occasion.
He noted that so many members of the NGO have not been to Kwara before, hence, it would only be gladdening to see the project serving the people.
Representative of Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), a Kwara based anti corruption CSO, Hajia Fatimah Dikko thanked the NGO for the help to the community, noting that Kwara has more than 500 communities still sharing stream water with cows, especially in Asa and Moro Local Government Areas.
Oyenike Oyeniyi
