Story

Nigeria: Pumps, But No Pipes

February 17, 2012 | Pulitzer Center
By
Peter Sawyer, for the pulitzer center

The Benue River in the rainy season. Experts say the river can provide more than enough water to satisfy Makurdi’s needs. Image by Peter Sawyer. Nigeria, 2011.

“Nobody wants to pay for water—it’s the Africa culture—we think it's God-given. And of course we forgot that every other thing too is God-given, yet we pay for it,” said Solomon Abaa, retired geology professor and past president of the Makurdi Water Board. Image by Peter Sawyer. Nigeria, 2011.

Wadata, a riverside neighborhood in Makurdi. The ditches carry trash and human waste to the banks of the Benue River. Image by Peter Sawyer. Nigeria, 2011.

Boys drinking and washing on the shores of the Benue River in Wadata. An offshore floating pump feeds the manifold and hoses with water fouled by garbage and human waste. The yellow jugs are filled here and then sold in town as clean. Image by Peter Sawyer. Nigeria, 2011.

An empty water sachet. Water is often sold in plastic baggies. Cheaper than plastic bottles, they litter the streets in poor neighborhoods. Image by Peter Sawyer. Nigeria, 2011.

Using water from the current water works, tank drivers fill up their trucks. Tankers provide clean water to the parts of town without pipes. Image by Peter Sawyer. Nigeria, 2011.

Ameto Akpe, journalist with BusinessDay newspaper, in Nigeria interviews Nat Apir. Apir, a former Coca-Cola engineer, now runs an NGO that is trying to educate Nigerians about their rights—such as access to clean water. “Ignorance is a massive disease,” he says, “it keeps a man down.” Image by Peter Sawyer. Nigeria, 2011.

A new water works that will produce enough clean water for all of Makurdi is being built by Gilmor, an Israeli contractor. The intake for the current water works is in the background. Image by Peter Sawyer. Nigeria, 2011.

The new water works is almost complete, but pipes reach only 25 percent of the town. John Ngbede, the minister of water in Benue State, says not awarding a contract for pipes when the government awarded the water works contract was “an oversight on our own part.” Image by Peter Sawyer. Nigeria, 2011.

A billboard near government offices in Makurdi. Even when the water works is completed, residents will still be waiting for water until pipes are laid. Image by Peter Sawyer. Nigeria, 2011.

In Makurdi, Nigeria, people who have waited decades for water service have become jaded. A new water works promises enough clean water for all, but a lack of pipes—and no plans for their installation—means residents will keep waiting.