By Shamsudeen Abubakar
Over three days, the neighborhood where Amar Ibrahim, a 100-level English Language and Literary Studies department student resides, has been experiencing total blackout. This inimical situation, has put stole inside his beans—mosquitoes became his visitors during night and bulb has failed to light his room due to lack of electricity.
A resident of Makasi boy-quarters at the Area 1E Vice Chancellor (VC) complex, rushed to his electric plate to cook as his roommates shouted “UP NEPA,” thinking electricity had been restored, but to his surprise, it was just a nightmare that foiled his anticipation. The poor boy sat back, hoping to wait for the unexpected God’s grace to happen that day.
After the long waited time, Amar was thinking of what to cook and the water to use, without further hesitation he opt for his lifesaver “Almighty Garri,” but he was dashed out with a surprise, when his sack full with garri, has been patrolling by red ants—his face grew red as his only alternative seemed like a fairytale. He wouldn’t eat unless he got water first, from a village next to his hostel.
Thinking over and over, he believed electricity would be restored soon, but his hope died when they brought the light at 4:00 PM after three days. Despite all the hours of electricity, water remained scarce for Amar—his dismay is not only restricted to electricity but also suffered from scarcity of water.
“I am tired of fetching water these days,” Amar lamented, “I fetch about three rounds. Sometimes, I don’t have the strength to fetch the water when I have not eaten, especially after my lectures. I even get more water to keep because I might need to bathe before school in the morning.”
To him, the staggered electricity brought by the NEPA and faulty solar power within the campus have caused scarcity of water. “They used to bring light but it’s not enough since we can’t even get water. Even the solar lights that we once enjoyed are no more, and it’s been over a week without water here in my hostel,” he lamented.
However, the lack of water has serious effects on students’ academic performance and attendance rates. The lack of water can cause even the best students to lose momentum as they deal with stomach pains and diarrhea from disease and hunger as they resort to poor water in reservoirs.
Also, School attendance drops due to water scarcity linked to electricity outages, as students spend time fetching water or suffer from hygiene-related illnesses like diarrhea, which reduce attendance or cause dropouts.
Scarcity of water, Lateness to Class
Abdulsalam Robiat Ayomide, a 200-level student of Pure and Environmental Chemistry department and resident of Kano Hall expressed her concerns about the water supply.
“The water they bring shouldn’t be occasional and it shouldn’t mostly be insufficient. This lack of adequate water supply is really affecting us. We have to be struggling to fetch water in queues despite having other commitments. Sometimes I attend lectures late, and I’ve even gone on hunger strike when there’s no water to cook.” Robiat complained.
Robiat often fetches water from the reservoir located at the Jubril Aminu mosque or water board, which is far from her hostel, hoping that the management would take notice and bring water if they see students fetching it from afar.
“The water supply has been inconsistent since the holiday, and it was only restored briefly on Tuesday before being cut off again.”
In the absence of water, Robiat settles for snacks like soft drinks, biscuits, bread, dankeli and meat pie.
“On days we lack water, I spend about ₦1, 300 on snacks like Dudu soft drinks and Fab biscuits. As a student, I sometimes eat once to avoid excessive spending, especially since the little electricity we get is only for an hour and 30 minutes that day,” she noted.
A Different Story for DV Hostel
For Hibatullah Ojumirola, a resident of DV hostel, there is water in her hostel, but they were unable to enjoy the water due to the population of people from other hostels fetching from the water—sometimes, the water will be empty when they need it.
“We have water in our hostel. Even people from the FBI and other hostel’s used to come to our hostel to fetch water. We don’t even have the chance of fetching water sometimes due to the population of the visitors who come to fetch the water,” she explained, adding that, “before I left the hostel today, the water was not rushing, at all, they’ve packed everything.”
Lack of Electricity, Profitable Sales for Charging Center
This vulnerable situation has forced has forced many students, like Hibatullah, to charge her gadgets at the charging center.
“Charging is not funny either. We have to wait till evening if they brought the electricity and if they didn’t bring it, we go to the minimart on charging where my phone and laptop were charged for ₦200 each.”
Water Tanks—Management’s Initiative
With the efforts by the management of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) to ensure students live comfortable in the school. The management has provided vehicles carrying water tank to provide water students living at the school hostel.
Similarly, Muhammad Rabiu expressed that the water tanks initiative is a great initiative that the management brought to aid the students’ sufferings.
“This has shown that the management is kind-hearted towards our well-being,” he added, “I am sure they will soon repair the electricity, water and even the solar lights. And the solar lights might not be working due to the weather these days.”
Nafisat Abdulrasaq expressed that the water tanks have gone a long way in sustaining the students. “I am happy to get water without going to the reservoir.I didn’t fetch water yesterday because I still have the remaining water I earlier fetched.” She exclaimed.
Faulty Solar
The solar power that has been helping students to powered their gadgets and ironing cloth has been staggered for over four days—it normally turn on from 9:00am till 5:00pm, but now, it has failed its purpose.
In Nigeria, many communities depend on Solar-powered boreholes and wells to extract groundwater because conventional electricity supply is unreliable or unavailable. When solar energy is insufficient, water pumping and purification are disrupted, exacerbating ware scarcity.
Solar energy also powers innovative water purification technologies, such as UV purification and biosensor filtration devices, which make contaminated water safe to drink. Lack of solar power reduces the availability of safe drinking water, increasing health risks and waterborne diseases.
Moreso, a Scientific Research by Abiodun Adeola Akinola stated that: “Nigeria faces energy access challenges, with frequent power outages and a large population unconnected to the national grid. This increases reliance on solar solutions for water supply, making solar energy critical for water security.”
‘Water Tank Initiative is aimed to help UDUS Community’—Dean Students Affairs
Speaking with the News Digest Press, Professor Umar Aliyu, the Dean Student Affairs told this reporter that the water tank initiative was to ease the students’ sufferings.
In his words: “For some days, we don’t have supply from the national grid that’s why the VC, in his magnitude, approved an alternative for the water supply which is the ‘water tanks’,” he stressed that the tanks are also distributed to the larger University community.
He further emphasized that the tanks also supplied the staff quarters with water. “The Initiative is to aid the plight students are facing in the University,” Prof Umar noted that “The university is lucky to have Dr. Bashir,” he concluded.
SU-CTC Welfare Director
In an exclusive interview with the News Digest Press, Aminu Kalgo, the SU-CTC Welfare Director stated that Solar plants have been experiencing spikes for some days.
“We have been flooded with students’ complaints about the lack of electricity and water. The situation became so alarming that the management had to bring water tanks from town to alleviate the students’ struggles.
The Welfare disclosed the manager of solar power has assured them to repair the faulty solar.