In Sokoto, student communities rely on open wells despite billions allocated to water projects

By Muhammed Akindele

Abdulsalam Musa, 22, still remembers the taste of the cup of well water he drank when he first arrived at Gidan Yaro, an off-campus community around the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS). It was January 2026, barely a week after he resumed for a new academic session as a 200-level student of the Faculty of Agriculture. 

“It tasted bad, but there was nothing I could do as I didn’t have money,” Mr Musa recalled. “I continued drinking it, not aware of the consequences.”

Like many residents of Gidan Yaro, Mr Musa drank the water anytime he felt thirsty. For months, nothing happened. Then, one day, fatigue set in, followed by an illness he claimed he had never experienced in his life. It worsened, and he was rushed to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with typhoid, a bacterial infection that can be contracted from contaminated water. Its symptoms include belly pain, diarrhoea, and vomiting.

“At the hospital, the first question the doctor asked was about the water I drink,” he recalled.

Musa’s ordeal is not an isolated one. According to the Nigerian Institute of Water Engineers (NIWE), approximately 179 million Nigerians lack access to safely managed drinking water. The institute also revealed that about 67 per cent of the Nigerian population do not have access to basic water supply.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), only about 26.5 per cent of the population use improved drinking water sources and sanitation facilities. The United Nations agency also said 70,000 Nigerian children under five die annually from waterborne diseases like diarrhoea that could be prevented with access to safe water and improved hygiene. 

Another student, who asked not to be named, said he began using well water for cooking, bathing and, occasionally, drinking, from the start of the first semester, a decision he blamed on financial constraints. Not long after, he developed an infection on his face, body itching, and rashes.

“I visited both the school clinic and the pharmacy, where I was given drugs and body cream to apply, and I was told to stop using the water; even if I had to use it, I should treat it with Dettol or Septol,” he said. 

He has since stopped drinking the water but continues to bathe, cook, and wash with it, treating it with disinfectant to kill the germs that may be there.

But Abdulrahman Olansile, a final-year Agricultural Science student who resides in Shama, said he treats the well water with Aquatabs. 

“I couldn’t afford everyday sachet water, so I bought Aquatabs to clean the water,” he said, adding that he has continued drinking it since then. Now in his final year, he said he has been taking the water without any consequence, a gamble medical experts say does not always pay off.

A medical doctor at the Federal Teaching Hospital Birnin Kebbi, Aliyu Zagga, said treating water can be effective, but only when genuine, appropriately dosed, and used exactly as instructed, and even then, they are not always the complete solution.

“Disinfection is not the same thing as complete purification,” he said. “Treatment tablets are mainly useful for controlling microorganisms. They do not necessarily remove chemicals, heavy metals, pesticides, excessive salts, or other physical contaminants that may be present in groundwater. If there is a possibility that a well is chemically contaminated, simply adding a tablet does not make the water completely safe.”

What the Water is Hiding

According to Dr Zagga, the danger of untreated well water lies precisely in what cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted.

“The major concern is that untreated well water can contain disease-causing organisms that you cannot see, smell, or taste,” he explained. “The commonest problems are gastrointestinal illnesses, particularly diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal cramps. Depending on the source of contamination, there can also be more serious infections such as typhoid and cholera.”

He added that an open well is easily contaminated by human or animal waste, especially when it sits close to toilets, septic tanks, drainage channels or refuse dumps, and that poorly constructed or uncovered wells, and dirty fetching containers, make the problem worse. Crucially, he said, appearance is not a reliable guide.

“It is also important to understand that water can look completely clean and still be unsafe…Clear water is not necessarily safe water,” he added.

Several peer-reviewed studies conducted on water sources in and around Wamakko Local Government Area, which houses these communities, point to a consistent pattern of contamination. 

One study found that a significant portion of the water points sampled had detectable levels of total coliform bacteria, even though 97 per cent of the respondents believed the water source was safe for drinking. 

In 2024, a study also conducted in Sokoto South, covering well, tap, borehole, and river water, reported statistically significant contamination across sources, describing the findings as a public health concern for vulnerable residents. 

Billions Approved, But Little Reaches

The water scarcity in Shama and Gidan Yaro still persists despite a long run of multi-billion naira water announcements by both the federal and Sokoto State governments. These projects specifically listed UDUS and its surrounding communities as beneficiaries.

In October 2024, the Federal Government launched 40 water supply projects worth N2 billion across Sokoto State. According to the project coordinator, Bello Kasim, 11 of the projects are concentrated within Sokoto’s metropolitan area and nearby communities, including the Sokoto State University, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, among others.

Also in 2025, the Sokoto State Governor, Ahmad Aliyu, commissioned a N14.1 billion Tamaje Water Scheme, a major infrastructure initiative that will supply potable water to Sokoto city and neighbouring communities.

In 2026, the state government announced a further N6 billion for water rehabilitation and solar-powered facilities, including the drilling of 31 new solar-powered boreholes and the rehabilitation of over 60 malfunctioning ones across the state, alongside 10,000 solar panels for the Sokoto Water Works.

But for residents of these communities, the billions committed to water projects by the state and federal government have not translated into access to safe drinking water for them.

The Cost of Getting Safer Water

For students and residents who can afford it, sachet and bottled water offer an alternative, one that is not cheap. 

After expending close to N20,000 to treat typhoid, Mr Musa stopped drinking from the open well. He now spends nearly N1,000 a week on sachet water or more during the hotter season. 

Abdullahi Ahmad, a final-year Biology student and resident of Gidan Yaro, also drinks sachet water exclusively. 

But one day, the student said he found an object floating in a sachet of water he bought, raising concerns about the cleanliness of the sachet waters themselves.

“I was very shocked and had to buy another bag of water again because I didn’t trust that the remaining would be any better,” Mr Ahmad said. 

For UDUS students, who are already faced with high feeding and accommodation costs, the result is a tie: the free water is often unsafe, and the safer water is not always affordable or trustworthy.

In Gidan Yaro, one of the villages in Wamakko Local Government Area, this reporter found a dilapidated borehole and a dormant pipe-borne water scheme.  According to Mallam Maccido, a community leader and one of the caretakers of private hostels in the community, the pipe-borne water scheme was the first modern water project built in 2008, during the first tenure of the then Governor of Sokoto State, Aliyu Wamakko. 

A second borehole, according to him, followed in 2012. “By the time they constructed the Borehole, the tap water had already stopped working,” he said.

“When it stopped working, we organised ourselves and contributed money to fix the borehole two times, but it didn’t work. The tap water was a cable and solar issue, so we found it hard to fix it.”

Corroborating Mallam Maccido’s account, Baban Shettima, another community elder, said the community’s effort to renovate it was not successful.

“We even contributed money, especially the rich businessmen in the village, but the boreholes did not work. The tap water is too expensive to fix; that’s why we left them and started using the wells,” Mr Shettima said.

What Needs to Change

Dr Zagga said access to safe water should be treated as a public-health intervention rather than a personal-responsibility issue. According to him, “telling people to boil their water or buy bottled water is not enough when many families cannot afford bottled or sachet water every day.

“The long-term solution is investment in safe and reliable water systems, proper sanitation, drainage and regular monitoring of community water sources,” he said.

He added that wells already in use should be properly constructed and periodically tested, particularly in populated communities such as those around UDUS, and that the public message needs to shift away from appearance-based judgements of safety. “Don’t judge the safety of water by its appearance,” he said. 

“Water can look clean and still contain organisms capable of causing serious disease. Where people have to depend on untreated well water, appropriate treatment and safe storage can significantly reduce the risk, but they should not be viewed as a substitute for a reliable supply of genuinely safe water.”