Catholic church moves to end water scarcity in Taraba communities

The Catholic Diocese of Jalingo on Monday donated a borehole to Tuyebubong community in Zing local government area of Taraba State, reports Tribune.

Most Rev. Charles Hamawa, Bishop of the Diocese noted at the ceremony that the project was part of the outreach program of the diocese aimed at addressing the peculiar needs of the people as a way of preaching the gospel practically.

According to him, “this community has been without a reliable source of potable water for centuries and so the diocese has decided to take it up upon itself to reach out to them through the Justice, Human Development and Peace Initiative of the Church.

“It is so sad that over 26 million Nigerian children do not have access to potable water and are experiencing high or extremely high water vulnerability according to the UNICEF. This is totally unacceptable and we must work hard to change the narrative.

“As a church, we have a mandate to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth and there is no better way of doing it than meeting the practical needs of the people.

While the national figures stand at one in every five Nigerian children lacking access to potable water to satisfy their daily needs, in this particular community, the figure stands at one in every ten. That means most of the children lack access to potable water and that has adversely affected their education and other life endeavours.

“With this project, however, we hope that most of their water challenges would have been taken care of, I urge the community to take up the protection of this facility and its maintenance seriously,” Hamawa said.

Rev Fr Stephen Bakare, the Diocese coordinator of JDPC disclosed at the event that the borehole was the third being commissioned since the Diocese has embarked on the rural water challenge project in Zing local government area and several others across communities in the state.

According to him, the move is to alleviate the plight of the people especially the school children who have to face extreme hardship for lack of portable water.

Mr. Francis Shongong, a community leader who spoke on behalf of the people thanked the church for the intervention, disclosing that for over 100 years of the community’s existence, the people have never had access to potable water and have been drinking from the same pond with livestock especially during the dry season.