Blue Lagos Sustainability Initiative Team Lead, Adesanya Saheed Olayinka, and the organisation’s Patron, Lagos State Special Adviser on Blue Economy Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, are supporting the construction of a solar-powered borehole in Yegunda Riverine Community, Epe Local Government Area, Lagos State, following a verification visit that exposed serious difficulties accessing safe drinking water on Monday, August 17, 2026.
The project is the first phase of a wider intervention by Blue Lagos Sustainability Initiative aimed at improving access to potable water in hard-to-reach riverine and coastal communities across Lagos State.
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The initiative followed a recent appeal by Blue Lagos for nominations from communities facing urgent water infrastructure needs.
Ten riverine and coastal communities subsequently submitted requests for assistance.
Blue Lagos began verifying the nominated communities on August 17, starting with Yegunda in Epe.
The assessment formed part of the organisation’s broader effort to use community-level information to direct resources towards areas with the greatest needs.
The Yegunda intervention also builds on Blue Lagos’ recently completed enumeration and baseline survey covering 134 hard-to-reach riverine and coastal communities across Lagos State.
The survey was designed to provide information that could help identify pressing development challenges and guide future interventions in communities that can be difficult to reach through conventional infrastructure programmes.
Yegunda’s water situation emerged as an immediate concern during the verification exercise.
Residents were found to be relying on inadequate and potentially unsafe water sources, creating concerns around sanitation and public health.
Available government-linked environmental assessment data has previously highlighted the vulnerability of communities in the wider Epe area.
An environmental impact assessment covering the region found that residents in several affected communities relied heavily on rivers, streams and the lagoon for domestic water, while a borehole recorded in Yegunda was reported as dysfunctional. Yegunda is also a recognised community within Epe.
Lagos State’s education database lists Local Government Primary School, Yegunda Village, with the school established in 1982, providing further evidence of the community’s longstanding presence within the local government area.
Following the latest assessment, Blue Lagos approved the immediate construction of a solar-powered borehole to provide the community with a more dependable source of potable water.
“The situation we encountered in Yegunda was deeply concerning. Access to clean water is a fundamental human need and should not be a privilege,” Adesanya said.
“After witnessing the condition of the existing water source, we resolved to immediately commence the construction of a solar-powered borehole that will serve the community for many years,” he added.
The choice of solar power is significant for an off-grid or poorly served community because it can provide a more sustainable means of operating water infrastructure without relying entirely on conventional electricity supplies.
Adesanya expressed particular appreciation to Emmanuel for his support of Blue Lagos and its community-focused programmes.
“We are particularly grateful to our Patron, Mr. Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, for his continuous guidance, encouragement, and generous support towards the vision of Blue Lagos,” Adesanya said.
“He believes in our mission and is committed to ensuring that no community is left behind,” he added.
The Yegunda project is not being presented as the end of the intervention.
Blue Lagos said verification visits to the remaining nominated communities would continue, with the organisation assessing their needs before deciding how resources can be deployed.
Beyond water infrastructure, the organisation said its wider programme will consider health, livelihoods, environmental protection and other social development needs across Lagos’ riverine and coastal settlements.
The approach places emphasis on targeted intervention rather than a one-size-fits-all response.
Information gathered from the 134-community baseline survey is expected to help Blue Lagos determine where future projects can have the greatest practical impact.
For Yegunda residents, however, the immediate priority is straightforward: access to clean and reliable water closer to home.
As construction gets underway, the solar-powered borehole represents a modest but potentially powerful improvement in daily life for a community that has long faced the difficulties associated with water access in Lagos’ riverine belt.
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Blue Lagos Sustainability Initiative said the project forms part of its continuing commitment to inclusive development, environmental sustainability, social equity and improved living conditions, guided by its stated principle that “No Community is Left Behind”.
