Plank traders at Idera Plank Market, Oke-Afa, Isolo area have taken it upon themselves to provide clean and safe water for the community where they ply their trade. 
At different hours of the day, students, business owners, neighbours and passers-by could be seen fetching water at the bore-hole within the Idera plank market just by the road-side at Pako bus-stop, Isolo. As most of the residents within the vicinity live in fenced apartments, there is no means for locals to fetch water for home or business use. The other available source of portable water is on the other side of Oke-Afa Bridge, and the water cannot be trusted to be hygienic enough for consumption.
A businesswoman who owns a restaurant within the vicinity, Akande Ronke told Community Bell that she cooks with the water and to wash dishes. “My children and I also drink water from the tap as it is always clean. The plank traders are very accommodating, and since I have known them, they have never collected money for the water.”
Emmanuel Oluwaseun who works in a church in the vicinity said, “This is the only place we can get water around here. Most houses here are residential and fenced, you cannot access their houses to fetch water. Despite the fact that the traders are mostly Muslims and we are Christians, they don’t discriminate against us. We are free to fetch water there at any time of the day.”
The youth chairman of Idera Plank Market, Raheem Musibau explained that providing portable water for the community is their own way of maintaining good relations with the community. He said “water is essential to human existence and the traders need it for their business and personal consumption too.
“Our water here is clean and safe for drinking. In fact, some officials from Alausa were here to check the quality of the water and they approved of it. All the communities surrounding our market benefit from the water without charges. Even when there is no light, we fuel the generator that pumps the water from our pockets and people appreciate it.
“It is our way of being socially responsible to the society as they also patronise us by buying planks and building materials. Even amongst us as a community, it is love that keeps us going. We live a life of love and unity and we believe in extending it to those around us irrespective of where they are coming from, and whenever there are disputes, our elders intervene to settle our differences.”
