Kpai Kpai, a rural community located in Gosa, Gui Ward, under the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is facing a dire humanitarian crisis.
Home to over 3,000 residents, the community is grappling with a severe water shortage, lacks primary and secondary schools, and has no access to healthcare due to the absence of any medical facilities. As a result, residents are urgently calling on the government to intervene.
During a recent visit by MonITNG, a civic technology organisation that monitors public projects and promotes accountability, the full extent of the community’s hardship was laid bare.
Over 3,000 people rely on a single borehole for water, a borehole that often breaks down and fails to meet the overwhelming demand of the residents.
Residents, including women and children, sometimes wait up to two days to fill a few containers, and when the borehole stops functioning, the community is left without clean water for days.
Beyond water, Kpai Kpai lacks both primary and secondary schools, and there is no healthcare facility in or near the area, according to the report.
The report added that when residents fall ill, they must cross a river using canoes to reach the nearest clinic, a perilous journey, especially during the rainy season when river currents become treacherous.
A female resident of the community who recounted their ordeal said, “Inside Kpai Kpai, we don’t have primary and secondary schools, we don’t have a hospital.
“If we are sick, we have to cross the bridge to the other side (neighbouring community), whereby it is not good. We follow under the bridge or cross over the bridge.
“When it rains, we don’t go anywhere. We sit at one place. We can’t even cross our children. We need school, we need a hospital.”
Pointing at the only borehole which serves as the only source of potable water in the community, she said, “This is the only thing we depend on for good water because we can’t take this big water,” – referring to the dirty, contaminated river in the community.
“If we take (drink) this water, we urinate blood. In fact, when we use it to bathe, we urinate blood. We have a big problem in this community,” she said.
MonITNG said, “This community is in the Federal Capital Territory. Yet it remains excluded from the most basic services and infrastructure. No school. No health post. No road. Just one failing borehole.
“These are not just statistics, they are people. Families. Children. Women who walk long distances daily, waiting hours just to fetch water.”
MonITNG called on the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and Federal Capital Territory Senator Ireti Kingibe to urgently intervene in what the organisation described as a “systemic abandonment” of the community.
“Their lives are shaped by hardship that should not exist in the capital of Nigeria,” it said.
“We call on FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and Senator Ireti Kingibe to intervene. Kpai Kpai urgently needs more boreholes and access to basic services.”
“Development must reach every part of the FCT, including communities like Kpai Kpai,” it added.
Kpai Kpai’s plight is not an isolated case. Across several rural communities within the FCT, including communities like Gwagwa, Giri, and Jiwa, residents have similarly decried poor access to potable water, lack of schools, and inadequate healthcare infrastructure.
In 2023, residents of the Gaube community in Kuje Area Council protested after years of broken promises on water and roads.
Despite Abuja’s status as Nigeria’s capital and a symbol of national development, stark inequalities remain within its rural districts.
As Nigeria continues to pursue its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), and SDG 4 (Quality Education), communities like Kpai Kpai serve as a stark reminder of the work still to be done.
For the residents of Kpai Kpai, falling ill often feels like a death sentence. Their message is clear: they are not asking for luxuries, just the basic amenities that every Nigerian citizen deserves.
Culled from Sahara Reporters
