Kayode, from Ilorin
Life in rural community can be hard. Ago-Oja, a community in Asa local government area of Kwara state is no different. A visit to the village shows the difficulty members of the community is going through. Needless to say, in a visit to the community faces lack of basic amenities such as drinkable water, healthcare centre, conducive learning environment for the pupil of primary and secondary schools.
Most of the roads are not also motorable which made the transportation of farm produce to the urban market difficult. This problem is compounded by the fact that majority of the community members are farmers whose means of livelihood depend on sales of farm products
Speaking on the challenges, a community spokesperson Abdulkareem Magaji said
“We were experiencing a shortage of water in this community, the only functioning borehole we were managing was donated to us by a private individual who happens to be a friend to our district head and it could not serve the whole community due to our ever-increasing population.
Speaking on the challenges, a community spokesperson Abdulkareem Magaji said
“We were experiencing a shortage of water in this community, the only functioning borehole we were managing was donated to us by a private individual who happens to be a friend to our district head and it could not serve the whole community due to our ever-increasing population.
“Although, We once had a borehole that was given to us by the government in the 80s, but it was no longer working. Recently a member of the State House of Assembly also sank another borehole for us, but we hardly get a full bucket of water from it due to the poor job executed by the contractor and all our efforts to the lawmaker and contractor to call them back to correct the work prove abortive”
Also speaking, a representative of a women in the community, Muniratu Magaji decried the problem they were facing in terms of accessing healthcare said “the only healthcare centre built by the government in the community was under locked and key”
The district head of the community, Daudu Salahudeen, however, appeals to the government at all levels and their representatives in government to come to their aid in the area of provision of drinkable water, functioning and well-equipped healthcare centre and grading of their farm roads.
Meanwhile, reacting to the complaint of Ago-oja residents, a member of the Kwara State House of Assembly, representing Afon constituency, Hon. Wahab Opakunle said “the present administration was trying its best in ensuring that all communities in the state have drinkable water and I have also sunk a hand pump borehole to the people of Ago-Oja, although they might have claimed that it was not serving them enough in terms of water they were getting, in which I have told them what to do in that regard. I could also remember that I once assisted them financially in repairing their solar-powered borehole”
Opakunle added that he would try his best to make sure that the community benefit from the 48 boreholes the state government proposes to give to the people of Asa and Moro LGA of the state.
Also responding to the outcry of the people of Ago-Oja, a member of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Abdulyekeen Alajagusi, representing Asa and Ilorin West constituency who said that he had sunk nothing less than 40 boreholes in various communities under his constituency, however, affirmed that he has not facilitated any project to the Ago-Oja community, and promised to ensure that the community get drinkable water in the subsequent constituency projects under his office, now that he knows that drinkable water was their major problem.
The duo of the lawmakers however urged the residents in their constituency to always make their needs known through the constituency office or at town hall meetings when it’s summoned.
Ago-oja is a community under Afon constituency in Asa Local Government Area of Kwara State, the place could be categorised as a semi-urban, due to how the village is fast developing to link up with the Ganmo area of Ilorin, the state capital.
