By Collins Yakubu-Hammer
The FCT chapter of the Nigerian Institution of Water Engineers (NIWE) and the Rotary Club of Abuja, Asokoro Diamond, under District 1925 on Saturday sensitised secondary students on the management and benefit of water to hygiene.
President of the chapter, Dr Marvin Paul Agwoko in his address said the programme was held preparatory to the celebration of the 2023 World Water Day (WWD) on March 22.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Accelerating Change’’.
“The 2023 WWD celebration is anchored on accelerating change to solve water and sanitation crises across the world.
“It is very significant for us because in accelerating change, we must also enhance our capacity; and for the change to be sustainable, we need to pass it on to the younger generation.
“That is why we have students from two secondary schools in Abuja participating in this programme.
“We did not stop at that, we brought them Jabi Lake to demonstrate to them some technical activities that assist in efficient and sustainable management of water resources.
“We are doing that with some stakeholders like the FCT Water Board, the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), Rotary Club of Abuja, Asokoro Diamond and many others,’’ Agwoko said.
He said the partnership was necessary for NIWE programmes to be sustainable and the theme to be impactful.
“We are also going to give plaques to policy makers and implementers to instigate and encourage them to do more in accelerating the change,’’ he added.
Agwoko explained that with continuous population increase, impact of climate change, high demand on industry and agriculture, the need to make limited water resources available was crucial.
He stressed that engineers should devise innovative ways for the sustainable development of water resources.
“Research and innovation should be encouraged, especially at the grassroots and among the young ones to speed up needed changes.
In his remarks, President of Rotary Club of Abuja, Asokoro Diamond, under District 9125, Rotarian Adeleke Adedapo said the essence of the sensitisation was to make young students to pick interest in Water Engineering.
According to Adedapo, water is a world significant substance on the surface of the earth that humans and animals cannot survive without.
“Like the King of Afro beat, Fela Kuti said: `water does not have enemy’, meaning that every human and animal needs water.
“We are trying to make the young students to develop interest in clean, safe and potable water to be available in our society.
“More than 1.8 billion people in the world do not have access to potable water while about 70 per cent of the earth is water, but clean and potable water is not available.
“We have to initiate strategies to ensure that clean, safe and potable water is available for the world population,’’ Adedapo said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that highpoint of the programme was a demonstration by officials of NIHSA on how to measure temperature, depth and level of water using various software.
Students of Packit Foundation School, Abuja and Junior Secondary School, Asokokro, participated in the programme. (NAN)