COMMUNITIES RECOUNT WATER OF LIFE IMPACT

Community leaders in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States whose communities have benefited from the Guinness Water of Life project said they have begun to feel the ease of life that the projects have brought to the social and economic life of their people.The Obawole and Olowo communities in Iju area of the Ifako Ijaiye local government council of Lagos State, Owode Community in Ona-Ara local government area of Oyo State and Iperu Remo in Ikenne-Remo Local Government of Ogun State, recently joined the list of communities to be beneficiaries of the Water of Life, which was designed by the company to give access to safe drinking water to one million Nigerians by the year 2011.Describing it as a kind gesture that they will not forget in a hurry, the Baale of Ogbere Gangansi/Owode, in Ona Ara local government council of Oyo State, Chief Ewuola Olagunju said that the water project has helped to alleviate the sufferings of the people as it has provided access to potable clean and safe drinking water.He said that the community will for ever appreciates the social responsibility service of Guinness that has put an end to many years of water problem in his community noting that the water project has indeed alleviated the sufferings of the people.According to him, before Guinness provided the all-inclusive water scheme, which comprise boreholes, overhead storage tank, water treatment plant, a reticulation network of fetching points and a standby power generating set for their use, domestic and commercial life that required the use of water was greatly hampered. The Vice Chairman of Ikenne Local Government, Otunba Tiwalade Sobo while recounting the impact that the Guinness Water of Life has affected the people of Iperu-Remo explained that life has never been the same again for the people noting that access to clean and safe drinking water is now easy for the residents.He added that the joy of having such facility in the community and seeing it meeting their expectation has made the people to continue to show high level of commitment to the management of the water project adding that the community set up to manage the project, has been effective in its duty.And for the people of Obawole and Olowo communities in Iju area of the Ifako Ijaiye local government council of Lagos State, the excitement of having a steady supply of clean and safe water for their use has continued to gladden their hearts The chairman of the Ifako-Ijaiye Community Development Council (CDC), Alhaji Isiaka Obatolu said that the water project has turned out to be a landmark in the community stressing that that was why the community had been mindful of managing the facility with diligence.According to him, the project is a turning point in addressing the problem of potable water confronting the people of Obawole and Olowo communities, emphasizing that the commitment of Guinness in providing water for the community is in line with the state’s policy thrust on public and private sector partnership.