Stakeholders have raised concerns over the worsening sanitation and water crisis in Mpape, a densely populated settlement just 10 minutes from Abuja city center, calling for urgent intervention from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration.
Speaking during the City-Wide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) Planning Validation Workshop in Abuja, the CEO/MD of Mangrove and Partners Ltd, Mr. Timeyin Uwejamomere, described the sanitation conditions in Mpape as dire, revealing that over 30 per cent of residents have no toilet facilities and resort to open defecation.
The baseline assessment of sanitation in Mpape was conducted under the Strengthening African Operators Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (SAO-CWIS) programme of the African Water and Sanitation Association (AfWASA), with funding support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The program focuses on Abuja, as well as Delta and Enugu States.
“Mpape is a community where people live in squalor, just minutes away from upscale areas like Ministers‘ Hill. Many staff of government offices and private businesses come from Mpape. Whatever diseases they contract in such unsanitary conditions, they take into the city,” Mr. Uwejamomere warned.
According to him, Mpape lacks water supply, waste evacuation systems, and is excluded from any city, regional, or district development plans. He added that similar conditions exist in hundreds of other unplanned settlements across Abuja.
“The satellite town development department does not have the support or resources to plan for these growing communities. We are in the fifth phase of Abuja’s development, yet the master plan has not been followed. Key infrastructure like the Wupa Wastewater Treatment Plant is only operating at 30 per cent capacity because parts of the city have not been connected to it,” he said.
He called for the establishment of a city-wide system to manage onsite sanitation, train waste handlers, regulate their operations, and integrate them into a formal framework. He also criticised the lack of budgetary commitment for Abuja‘s implementation of the federal government‘s “Clean Nigeria” campaign to end open defecation.
“We estimate that 40 per cent of Abuja residents still practice open defecation, especially in the satellite towns. The FCT Administration must urgently revisit the Abuja regional master plan and ensure proper integration of neglected communities,“ he said.
On his part, the head of the Mpape community, Chief Musa Pada, lamented the lack of government presence in the area, citing the absence of roads, functional health facilities, and reliable water supply.
“Without electricity, a single truck of water costs us ₦2,000. Our health centre is small and meant to be private, but it serves the entire population. Mpape is not in the Abuja master plan, but we are close to the city and deserve access to basic services,” he said.
Chief Pada also confirmed that despite repeated appeals to the Bwari Area Council and the FCT authorities, little has changed. “Our population is over two million, and yet there is no significant intervention,” he stressed.
