By Zakariyya Fatima Abdulazeez (U19MM1039)
Umar Suleiman Hall in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (ABU) is currently experiencing water scarcity for the second time in three weeks, following the commencement of the load shedding exercise across all university halls of residence.
The situation has become so challenging that some students have resorted to fetching water from nearby locations, including the Chapel, Catholic Church, Engineering Mosque, and the Building Department.
The current scarcity began in the early hours of yesterday, after power was interrupted in the morning and not restored until 9:00 p.m in the night. Initially, many attributed the issue to the rainfall and cloudy weather. However, the situation has worsened despite stable electricity for most of today, with only a brief power interruption reported.
The entire hall relies heavily on the general tap area, which has only 10 functional taps. As at the time of writing this report, water has not been flowing from the taps in front of each block since morning, adding to the difficulty.
Students have also been unable to fetch water from the two solar-powered tap points within the residence due to the continuous cloudy weather, which has prevented the solar systems from functioning effectively.
Many students are hopeful that the situation will improve if power remains stable for the rest of the day.
Recall that the university’s load shedding exercise began on the 14th of July, with daily power interruptions scheduled from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The first water scarcity in Umar Suleiman Hall occurred on the 15th of July, just a day after the implementation of the load shedding policy.
