Water Vendor’s Influx Into Niger State Increase Cause Panic

*Chinwendu Nnadozie, Minna*

The dust raised by the recent attempted attack on a water vendor, popularly called, ‘mai-ruwa’ in Hausa by some angry youths a fourth night ago has brought about palpable fears among residents of Minna the state capital over the influx of persons suspected to have illegally migrated into Niger State from neighbouring countries.

The youths apparently frustrated by the acute water scarcity due to the inability of the Niger State Water Board to provide water to the populace for almost a month thereby forcing residents to source for alternative means of meeting their domestic need for water overheard the water vendor telling a woman that a truck of water containing ten jerricans is N1,000.

The response angered the boys who hitherto were in groups discussing the socio-economic hardship, coupled with the associated political uncertainties hence they charged towards the mai-ruwa demanding why he should sell the water he brought for between N150 and N200 from a borehole for such an exorbitant amount.

It is also possible that the water vendors indiscriminately increase the cost based on how much they buy from the borehole and in order to meet up with how much returns they were expected to make. These and more are some of the posers the relevant government offices should be able to streamline to build confidence between the parties concerned.

Though the prompt intervention of some passersby saved what could have led to a full-blown fight between the youths who almost immediately started mobilising for a showdown, and successfully calmed them down, the ugly situation may resurface or re-enacted at some other location as long as almost all the mai-ruwas selling water within Minna metropolis and environs, in particular, believe that they have absolute powers to decide or indiscriminately increase the price of the water they fetch from boreholes or which they source from stagnant rivers and wells in farmlands, which they sell to unsuspecting citizens.

Investigations by our correspondent indicate that the majority of the water vendors are aliens, with a peculiar feature that makes them stand out from most Nigerian tribes speak Hausa as a general lingua franca to their customers and a strange language known only among themselves have the backing of some powerful men in the society who engage them to do water selling business for them to bring returns on a daily basis.

But, while their employers or paymasters enjoy the good returns caused by the failure of the state government to provide potable water which is one of the most essential basic needs of the citizenry, the generality of Nigerians are considering the security implications of allowing foreigners without any proper documentations of their identities unfettered access to the nooks and crannies of the state, especially considering the fact that they understand and speak the common language while the indigenes do not understand theirs should they be having any sinister motive or planning anything evil against Nigerians or their host communities.

Only a fourth night ago, some Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS) officers were said to have carried out a raid at a particular spot where the water vendors usually converge, and in the process arrested some of them while others ran into hiding, but surprisingly they were all released the following day after they were asked to write their names and was also made to pay N5 000 (five thousand Naira) each to buy their freedom.

This claim, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the NIS Minna office, Mukhtar Abu could not confirm because he refused to pick up his calls when our correspondent tried to reach him for comments on what the agency is doing or may have done to check the influx of illegal aliens and if some arrests have been made.

Although the state Commissioner for Water Resources and Dams Development, Mamman Musa promised to look into the possibilities of interfacing with the water vendors to avoid misunderstanding due to alleged exploitations with a view to regulating their activities, the security loophole is still not bridged without the involvement of the NIS whose responsibility it is to control illegal migrants.

A Minna resident, Mr. Ezra Yakoi, who operates a restaurant near where migrants usually converge had apart from taking a swipe at the state government for failing in her responsibilities of providing water to the populace thereby encouraging the water vendors to invite more of their kinsmen to join them, expressed fears about the possible security implications of the situation.

Two things bothering the likes of Yakoi are the high cost of water which is adding to their cost of running a business as it is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain and the security implications of the increasing number of water vendors with new faces emerging on a daily basis.

Yakoi is right to have considered the security implications of granting unfettered access into parts of the country and that is why it is very important for all three tiers of government to fashion out modalities to monitor strangers in both rural areas and cities.

In efforts to get reactions from the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Emmanuel Umar proved abortive as his phone number kept indicating ‘unreachable’. Also, a text message sent to him against possible hostilities between water vendors and their host communities or customers was not replied to at the time of filing this report.

*Independent