In Tunga Mallam, a small town in Niger State, Nigeria, access to clean water once shaped daily life. For decades, the local water scheme, built in 1984, provided a reliable source of drinking and household water. But when it broke down, everything changed.
Saliu Babangida, the district head, remembers the shift all too well: “Due to the poor state of the water scheme, most people in town rely heavily on hand-dug wells and local streams, which are not only unsafe but also difficult to access,” he explains.
The burden fell heaviest on women and children, who walked nearly two hours each day – covering over three miles – just to fetch water.
Tunga Mallam was not alone. In nearby towns like Tegina, Beji, Kataeregi, Gwada, and Dokko, families faced the same struggle. With water supplies dwindling, they had to rely on costly informal vendors or risk their health drinking from contaminated sources.
That changed when UN-Habitat, in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of Niger State, stepped in. Their project rehabilitated the Tunga Mallam Water Scheme and five others, restoring clean water access for over 250,000 people.
For Amina Mohammed, a mother of five, the difference is life-changing: “Before, I used to spend N1000 ($0.60) every day to buy water from informal vendors,” she says. “It was hard on my family. Now that our water scheme has been repaired by UN-Habitat, I only spend N250 ($0.15) daily, and the water is safe for my children.”
The project was more than just a quick fix. It involved restoring 10 existing boreholes, drilling two new ones, installing 13 submersible pumps with auto-starting panels, repairing broken pipes, and overhauling the entire pumping system. The impact was immediate.
Akilu Kuta, Permanent Secretary of the Niger State Ministry of Water Resources and Dams Development, sees the transformation in numbers.
“Before UN-Habitat stepped in, only 7.5 per cent of the state’s water schemes were operational. Today, we’ve not only improved access to clean water but also significantly increased our production capacity by over 2 million litres daily,” he says.
The intervention was guided by the Niger State Sub-National Urban Policy, developed with support from UN-Habitat and the Government of the Republic of Korea. It identified critical areas in need of investment, and rehabilitating these water schemes became a top priority.
For communities like Tunga Mallam, the return of clean water means a return to normal life, where families can afford basic needs without sacrificing a large part of their income or time on water.