Rural Level Impact of China Free-aid Water Project in Nigeria

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the socio-economic impact of Chinese involvement in the provision of potable water at the community level in Nigeria. We specifically determined how the water projects have contributed to health, education and personal income. The study was carried out in Toge/Gasa rural village located at the outskirts of Nigeria’s federal capital territory (FCT), Abuja. A combination of informal interviews as well as structured and semi-structured questionnaires was used. Before the water project, 70% of the beneficiaries relied on personal wells, 10% on rivers/stream and 20% on commercial boreholes. Only 12% of respondents agreed that the volume of water for domestic use before the borehole project was sufficient but 68% of people had sufficient water after the borehole project. Further, 78% of respondents considered the quality of water from project boreholes to be much better than what they had before. In contrast, some 75% of non-beneficiaries of the borehole water project still lacked enough water for daily use.