There is anguish in Yola, Adamawa State capital and Gombe, following the collapse of 330kV towers which has led to water scarcity.
The towers located in Gombe State were destroyed by wind.
The 330kV supplies electricity to both Yola and Gombe, and as a result, the power outage which occurred on Tuesday, threw the residents of these two states into total blackout.
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The Power Transmission Company of Nigeria, in a statement by its General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, said the four towers along the Jos-Gombe 330kV transmission lines were vandalised around 3:32 p.m. on 22 April 2024, which caused transmission lines to trip off.
However, the power outage has also affected water supplies in these two states as water could not be pumped into households.
Some residents of the states told THE WHISTLER on Friday, saying the whole scenario has plunged them into untold hardship, because “water is life.”
Hadiza Yusuf, a resident of Yola, said with the current situation, she moves from Jimeta where she stays down to Yola Town local government area to fetch water on a daily basis since the scarcity began.
She said: “We have to carry Jerry Cans and go fetch water manually as far as Yeliwaji, around Shagari low cost, in Yola town and bring it to Jimeta where I’m staying.
“I take the Jerry Cans to my sister’s house and fetch water before coming back to climb a 3 storey building where I stay.
“Initially our house has a big generator plant the type that consumes N1m fuel when used upto an 1hr.
“So we ended up buying a smaller generator and tried to power the house but it was not supplying sufficient fuel to pump water, maybe the generator is not big enough.”
Yusuf said because of the scarcity, she picks her daughter daily and keep in her sister’s house in Yola town to stay and get access to water, while she drives to the office.
“When I close from work I branch and pick her up, do everything we want to do in my sister’s house then when going back we fetch only one Jerry Can of water to ease the stress of climbing up the stairs with heavy Cans.
“With that one Jerry can we bathe, flush, do everything and bathe the following morning and go out again.”
She complained that even to see the water vendors popularly known as “Mai Ruwa” and buy water is not possible. “If you get them, they’ll sell at N2k, and some places N3k per truck, which is just 20 litres of water,” she said.
According to her, the condition is “Terrible! No light, no water, the heat is extreme, I don’t even know how I am feeling right now.”
Usaku Samuel, another Yola resident, lamented that one has to have connection with people that have sources of water before one can get water to use.
“You have to be connected before you see water in yola these days. None of the government water point I know is functioning, most people building houses prefer personal boreholes, and with the light issue now, water has become gold because even neighbours, it’s fuel they use to pump the water,” she said.
The situation is also the same with residents of Gombe. Austen Siaka, who lives in Tunfure, said the light was restored in some areas for 1 hour yesterday evening, but the situation is still the same.
He said they rely on water tanks moving about selling water to residents, but to see them too is an issue. “Where they are fetching the water to sell, those places rely on electricity to pump the water. Those that use generators are very few.
“So we manage water, by bathing with cupfuls and nothing more. For 1000 litres of overhead tank, we pay N5k for refilling, It was 2k.”
Mr. Ararat, a lecturer in Gombe State University, said the condition of people of Gombe is pitiful due to the scarcity, especially yesterday when the condition was extremely bad.
“Yesterday someone bought a tank of water for people, you need to see how people were fighting to fetch the water.
“Even around the government house, you’ll see women in groups with buckets looking for where to fetch water. The light finally restored around 6pm yesterday but what I saw yesterday àround the the,e around was shocking,” he said.