Residents of Abaji metropolis and in its environs in Abaji Area Council of the FCT are groaning as water scarcity has worsened four months after the vandalization of high tension electricity cables supplying power to the area.

Abuja Metro had reported that suspected vandals in September, 2025, vandalised high tension cables connecting Yaba-Piri to Kwali on the Abuja-Lokoja highway which led to paralysis of economic and social activities, especially access to potable water in the area.

However, our reporter who went round some streets within the metropolis on Saturday observed that most households, especially women, woke up as early as 5am and joined water queues in neighbouring houses where water was pumped with generators.

It was observed that the worst affected by the water scarcity are Nuku community, Unguwar Ayaura Pipeline, Abaji Low-Cost, Junior/Senior Staff Quarters, Unguwar Sabon-Tasha, Unguwar Wadata, Unguwar Manko, Naharati, Unguwar Kpokpolobi and Unguwar Liman.

A resident, Mrs. Fatima Ibrahim, said she woke up as early as 5am to carry a basin of water on her head from a neighbour’s house at the cost of N100.

She said, “Even when I wake up as early as 5am to go and fetch water from a neighbours house, before I get there, there is usually a long queue which I have to join until it gets to my turn before I fetch.”

Another resident, Mrs. Zainab Danjuma, also lamented the water problem facing residents of the area, saying she also carried a basin on her head to buy water from commercial boreholes.

She said, “Actually, my husband has a borehole, but you know how things are in this country; not everyone can afford diesel everyday to pump water.”

She further said that she patronised water vendors whenever she discovered her children might go to school late, hence that she bought a truck at N1,200 in order to enable her to bathe the children and prepare them for school.

Mr. Abdullahi Mohammed, a resident of Abaji Low-Cost Housing, noted that several residents who had private boreholes found it difficult to pump water due to lack of electricity for over four months.

He said most of the residents depended on buying water from vendors at exorbitant prices, with a truck which was sold at N700 now sold at N1,200.

Mrs. Afiniki Barnabas, in Nuku community, said despite there being a solar borehole provided by the council’s chairman, it was not enough for the entire people of the community.

She said, “In fact, even the solar borehole that I am talking about; we have to wait for water to fill the overhead tank, and before you know it, the water has finished. The next thing is for us to go down to the stream where women wait to scoop water coming out from the ground.”

Reacting, the Chief of Staff to the chairman of the council, Mohammed Kandi, who also attributed the worsening water scarcity across the metropolis to vandalization of electricity cables, said the council had made several efforts to fix the cables.

He said the Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Abdullahi, had met with the top management of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) from Gwagwalada and had concluded arrangements in order to fix the cables so that both social and economic activities would bounce back. (Daily Trust)

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