The Periscope reporter
Adamawa State citizenry have received the lockdown notice with apprehension, which some of them said the news came to them unexpected and unprepared.
Some families wondered how they would survive the 14 days beyond Covid-19 with the suffocating atmosphere occasioned by the Scutching sun and the lack of water, they considered necessary for human survival.
“There’s no pipe borne water, owing to the decades of infrastructural decay and nothing is yet to be done about the water treatment plants in the state.
“Public boreholes are grossly inadequate and it will be overwhelming for the houses in the neighborhood that have boreholes to serve the needs of the entire neighborhood without water vendors.
“It is frightening seeing pushcarts packed empty of jerrican and the water vendors telling you that they would not go out for work tomorrow not to be humiliated because government has issued a stay at home notice.
“Even though the notice has not made a categorical reference to the water vendors, they said they are afraid that they would be humiliated should they go out to supply water,” a resident told the Periscope reporter.
Stefanie Kaiser would articulate that water vendors are common in many parts of the world where water scarcity or lack of infrastructure limit access to drinking water, particularly in urban areas.
Water vending refers to many forms of selling water: It ranges from individuals who carry water in containers on pushcarts, to water kiosks, where consumers fetch the water by themselves.
“In the literature, water vending usually refers to the formal or informal reselling or onward distribution of utility water, or water from other sources by small-scale vendors for domestic use such as water kiosks, water carriers, tanker trucks, households reselling water from their utility water connections and so on,” Stefanie would explain.
Speaking with the Periscope Monday, the Director General Media and Communication to the Governor Mr Solomon Kumangar said the lockdown did not affect any category of water vendors.
“Water is a daily need; it is used for drinking, cooking, washing, bathing and so on. It’s essential. You can have a soap but can you wash your hands without water?
“Coronavirus spread can be controlled with proper hygiene but how do you keep the environment and yourself clean without clean water?
“And where do you get adequate water in this respect if the government should sanction against water vending in her war against the spread of COVID-19?
“The lockdown affects only the interstate traveling and international borders, in addition to the ban on clubbing, tricycles, taxis and bus operators throughout the state.
“The lockdown is as a result of the lack of compliance to the earlier directive by the state government to workers on grade levels 1-14 to stay at home in the overall interest of the citizenry.
“Please inform the entire water vendors that the stay at home order does not affect them. Their business is essential.
“However, they should maintain proper hygiene, avoid handshake, observe social distancing and wash their hands continuously with soap and water,” Kumangar said.
NEON
