Mirian Gom 
EDO, Nigeria – Residents of Ikekogbe community in Ekpoma, Esan West Local Government Area, gain reliable access to safe water as the Society for Family Health (SFH) inaugurates a motorised borehole, ending years of dependence on contaminated sources.
Delivered on Saturday under the WASH for Healthy Lives project and funded by Procter & Gamble, the intervention targets water scarcity and recurring outbreaks of preventable diseases.
Chairman of the council, Blessing Ebhodagha, says the project restores dignity and safeguards health. “We are commissioning hope. Our people have long suffered from typhoid and cholera due to unsafe water,” he states.
SFH’s WASH Director, Jane Adizue, represented by Nnamdi Anosike, explains that behaviour change campaigns alone failed without access to clean water. “Communities reverted to unsafe sources. This intervention closes that gap,” he says.
Officials from the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation and Edo State Small Town and Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency say the project aligns with national goals on universal water access.
Community representative Sunday Iyare welcomes the relief but urges protection against vandalism. “We will safeguard this facility, but we need support,” he says.
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Hussaini Ibrahim 
Korede Abdullah 
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