The National Coordinator of Fairaction Nigeria, Dr Tola Winjobi has charged the governments to stop paying lip service and stop playing politics with the issue of water in Nigeria.
He lamented the many years of neglect by successive governments in Oyo of denying Akinyele communities good road, electricity, health facilities, and in particular clean, accessible and affordable water supply.
Dr Winjobi said this during the commemoration of this year’s UN World Water Day which comes off every 22nd day of March. World Water Day was first proposed in Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.
He said lack of access to clean water and sanitation facilities contributes to high absenteeism rates among children, with many are missing school due to water-borne illnesses.
He added:”There have been some cases of girls not attending school on account of lack of water to clean up their menstrual cycle whenever it comes.
“Studies have shown that vulnerable populations such as children under 5 years and individuals youth and young adults between 15-44 years are most susceptible to water-borne diseases like typhoid and cholera.
“From another study on Akinyele Local Government Area, 77% of households reported typhoid, 11.4% cholera, 8.6% skin infections, and 2.9% diarrhea.These statistics highlight the urgent need for improved access to clean water and sanitation facilities in Akinyele Local Government.”
He suggested that Oyo State government should consider increasing its budgetary allocation to water sector as this sector has almost the least allocation each year.
He added that all water dams in the state should be given facelift by revamping their infrastructure and equipping them with durable modern facilities.
He expressed displeasure with the Oyo state government for merging the Ministry of Environment with Water which, does not give room for adequate attention that water sector deserves in the state.
“Government should stop paying lip service to and stop playing politics on the issue of water. There should be a separate Ministry of Water Resources with its own full fledged commissioner like any other substantive ministry while Water Corporation of Oyo State should be phased out as it has outlived its usefulness,” he added.
Winjobi warned the governments to take seriously provision of equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all in order to attain SDG 6 target 1.
The need to order their priority becomes imperative in view of so many deaths being recorded as a result of water borne diseases, he said.
He stated: “Solving water poverty should be central to the plans, programmes and policies of governments. Achieving the SDGs is dependent on the political will of our leadership.”
The event was attended by eminent personalities including civil servants, Mogaji Ile Arulogun Chief Monsur Abiola Olatunji, Baale Arulogun Chief Taofik Adewale, chiefs, religious leaders, women, men representing over 100 communities under Arulogun District of Akinyele Local Government Area.
Speaking, the Fairaction International Chief Executive Officer from Australia, Dr Sam Gbemi Adeoti, decried the water poverty in Akinyele.
He said: “We are concerned about the negative impact that lack of water or its fettered access makes on women and children”. It is a pity that water is not easily accessible. Where it is accessible “our women have to trek long distances to get it. As a result, they lose man power hours of labour while our children get late to school invariably affecting their academic performances”, Dr Adeoti lamented.
Mogaji Abiola Olatunji,who is also Gbonka Olubadan, enjoined Arulogun communities to rally round non-governmental organizations that are making effort to provide access to clean and affordable water.
He said:” We are ready in these our 143 communities to give it all it takes to ensure that we support Fairaction Nigeria to drive out water-borne diseases like dysentery, diarrhoea and cholera so we can build Smart Water Infrastructures in our communities”.
The World Water Day 2026 celebration ended with the determination of the participants across 100 communities to support Oyo State government so as to ensure clean water for all in Oyo State in order to realise Goal 6 target 1 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
