—NO fewer than 14 persons have been reportedly killed from water borne disease in Okoroutip community, an oil producing community in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State since December last year.
The youth president, Mr. Henry Nkan, said the community depended on existing ponds and water that flows from creeks for their source of drinking water, which has caused the lives of many “From December last year till date, we have buried about 14 people that died from water borne diseases and we are afraid that more lives would be lost as nothing is being done to rescue us from the situation.”Nkan noted that the even only borehole in the community which was drilled by ExxonMobil many years ago is no longer functioning.
“The problem of water in Okoroutip is a consequence of the terrain of the area and as a result of heavy presence of oil. We are still pleading with multinational oil companies to come to our rescue by giving us good source of water. We believe that someday succour would come our way.