THE Iberekodo Lepers’ Colony, Abeokuta, Ogun State, one of the 64 leprosy settlements built
across the country to accommodate victims of leprosy, is currently in an unpleasant state.
Aside the buildings erected in 1908 by missionaries with rusted corrugated iron sheets, trees
and sheer remains of some dilapidated buildings surrounded by bushes, nothing at the colony
indicates that the lepers living there are entitled to decent living conditions.
Aside the menace of stigmatization, the colony is currently plagued with many challenges,
principal among which is lack of potable water.
For several years, the colony relied solely on water supply from the Ogun State Water
Corporation, which many call public water free of charge. But in 2020, the water supply ceased
due to a major problem from the water corporation and the inmates struggled to trek long
distances to get water.
The Chairman of the Ogun State Integrated Dignity Economic Advancement (IDEA), the
association that caters for people affected with leprosy, Jimoh Ahmed, who also resides within
leprosarium, confirmed the development, lamenting that getting water has become a serious
challenge to the inmates.
Ahmed said: “Since the water corporation resumed water supply this year, we couldn’t get
access to water supply because many of the pipes bringing water here have been badly
damaged, which has become a challenge.
“For now, we can no longer have access to public water. If we have access to that, the colony
can boast of having enough water supplies for our use. Despite the provision of water here, we
don’t have enough water yet. At times, we still go outside the colony to fetch water for our use.”
No sooner, fortune smiled on them as a non-governmental organisation, Damien Foundation,
Belgium, an NGO established to support the Nigerian government on treating Tuberculosis and
Leprosy, came to their aid with the provision of a borehole, set up and supported with water
tanks. Though getting it done did not come on a platter of gold due to the topography of the
area, their efforts paid off during their second attempt.
The borehole did not only bring the needed succour to the camp and other neighbouring
communities, it also put an end to the trekking of long distances to get water at all costs.
The Deputy Country Representative, Damien Foundation, who doubles as the Head of Technical
Unit of the foundation’s projects in Nigeria, Dr. Muse Olatunbosun Fadeyi, said they embarked
on the borehole project, based on their needs assessment of the settlement.
“When we got there, we had a meeting with the settlement, we discussed with them on what
their major issue is, among other things they mentioned, and the issue of water was the most
important thing on their mind. So, we set the ball rolling. We tried to give them a borehole – we
tried once, we dug almost 200 metres but we couldn’t get water, so we tried another one
situated at the present place, we got water there and we made sure it is accessible to the
people.
“Damien Foundation, Belgium is an NGO from Belgian people to support the Nigerian
government on treating Tuberculosis and Leprosy. Our main aim is to alleviate some of their
problems most especially those of them living in the settlement. The idea is that we want to
always resettle all of them within the community but you’ll still have some of them that remain
in the settlement.
“So, these people are neglected and the Damien Foundation makes it one of its focuses. We’ve
been to virtually most of the settlements in the Southwest – Oyo, Kwara, Osun states, doing the
same thing.”
While appreciating the gesture, Jimoh said: “I want to thank some of the NGOs for their support
because in the last two years we faced water issues, but some of the NGOs came to our aid and
provided us with potable water. One of them is Damien Foundation, based in Ibadan, Oyo State –
a foundation that caters for people with leprosy.
“The first borehole they drilled in the colony with about N1.8m failed because they couldn’t get
water. They didn’t relent; they returned after a few months and dug another one, which we are
using now. Since then, we have been in good control of the water.
Though the provision of water solved their major problem, but it opened up another challenge
– lack of power supply to power the borehole. According to Ahmed, due to lack of electricity, the
dream of the foundation to ensure that the inmates have regular water supply was not achieved.
“This prompted the NGO to purchase a generating set for us to power the borehole. It’s not that
we are not connected to the national grid; the problem is that all the electric poles supplying
light have spoilt.
“In the last five years, one of our donors, who lives in the United Kingdom bought us some poles
but they are not as strong as the previous ones. Termites have eaten them up, but for our self
efforts, the poles would have fallen and worsen the case.”
Though Dr. Fadeyi said the foundation has “always been giving them a token to buy fuel to
power the generating set, it was learnt that fuelling the generating set has become another
burden to the inmates who are feeding from hand to mouth. “We usually tax ourselves to get
money for the fuel to power the generating set, even whenever we want to service the
generating set, we usually tax everyone.”
It was learnt that most times, especially when the issue of fuel hike was tough, the community
found it very hard to get fuel to power the borehole, bringing back the memory of their dark
days of water scarcity.
Despite the interventions, to say the community is currently water dependent is far from the
truth. Ahmed confirmed that despite the provision of water, they don’t have sufficient water yet
because, at times, they still go outside the colony to fetch water for use.
He noted that if water supply from the water corporation has been flowing as expected, it
would have covered up for the shortfall the colony is still experiencing.
While hoping for a solution to their hydra-headed challenges, they are unanimously appealing
to the state government to look into their plight.
From observation at the settlement, the insightful development shows that the community is
getting equipped to solve its water challenge, when they seem to have been neglected by the
government that is saddled with such responsibility.
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