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By Etim Etim

On January 6, 2026, the management of one of the high-brow residential estates in Abuja, sent the following message to the residents of the estate: ‘’Good day Residents, information reaching us is that the FCT Water Board has been disconnected from their power source by AEDC (Abuja Electricity Distribution Company). This, we learnt, is due to nonpayment of their electricity bills over time and AEDC, in a bid to recover their, money had to disconnect them from power source, thereby making it impossible for the Lower Usman Dam to operate. This is the reason why water supply into the estate has ceased since morning. We shall keep you informed, but please use your stored water wisely as we don’t know how long this will last…’’.

The message triggered another round of panic among the over 4,000 residents of the estate, who like others in the city, have suffered untold hardships from regular water shortages and mounting refuse dumps in the last two years.

Last year, there were several cases of water shortages in Abuja that were blamed on the inability of the Water Board to buy water treatment chemicals and repairs at the dam. These water problems and mounting refuse heaps in our estates and other neighbourhoods in Abuja and the many excuses we heard were widely reported. For uncollected garbage, the reason was that there was a delay by AEPB (Abuja Environmental Protection Board) in renewing its contractual agreements with the sanitation contractors who collect garbage from residential areas. This led to a prolonged stoppage of work by the contractors. As soon as that was sorted out, around August, the garbage trucks were off duty again. This time, we were told that the garbage contractors were prevented from accessing the dumpsites by the villagers who live around there. Again, there were mountains of refuse everywhere in the city. Abuja generates between 3,000 and 3, 5000 metric tonnes of waste daily, with projections indicating this figure could double by 2030 due to rapid population growth and urbanization.

As 2025 rolled by, residents were eager to forget their bitter experiences with their municipal services and look forward to improved services. But nothing prepared them for the ridiculous reasons given for the ongoing water shortage. Both residents and Water Board engineers are aghast that the FCT administration cannot pay electricity bills.  FCT Water Board’s monthly electricity bill is over N200 million and it is in debt with the AEDC ‘’for some months now’’, according to insiders.

After electricity supply was disconnected early this year, the Board resorted to powering the turbines at the Lower Usuman Dam with diesel-powered generators, pending when the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike would return from his Christmas vacation.  ‘’The generators cannot effectively power the turbines, but we had to do whatever we could for the sake of the residents who are our customers and this was during  the Christmas holidays. More so, the Minister was out of town and we did not have approval to settle the electricity bill…’’, an assistant director at the Water Board told me. This could only provide epileptic supply at homes. But hopes of a reprieve were short-lived. On resumption of duty on Monday, the minister declined to approve the request to settle AEDC’s obligations, insisting that the Board should continue to pump water with diesel generators. The problem, however, is that the turbines at the dam cannot be powered effectively with generators. The water crisis may not be solved just yet.

Usuman Dam is a key water source for the city, located on the River Usuma, about 26 km form the city centre. The dam has a reservoir capacity of 120 million litres of raw, untreated water, and is crucial for supplying Abuja residents. Originally constructed in the early 1980s, the dam was recently rehabilitated at over N50 billion, during which time residents faced another round of shortages. Residents are therefore understandably dismayed by the current round of shortages, especially the reasons given. Said a former minister who lives

in Gwarimpa, ‘’I can’t believe that the FCT cannot afford to pay electricity bills. How can we be this callous?’’.  Abiola Dosunmu, a resident of Games Village, another gated community in the city, laments, ‘’the minister seems more focused on Rivers politics and building roads in Abuja.   But someone should inform him that sanitation and water supply are important parts of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’’.

Who will talk to Minister Wike on behalf of the suffering residents of Abuja? Who will convince him that adequate water supply is as essential as good roads? Who will pay the FCT Water Board’s electricity bill so that Abuja residents would have a relief?

• Etim, a journalist, lives in Abuja.