The residents of Kwara State capital, Ilorin, are lamenting over water scarcity in the state as a result of indefinite strike action embarked upon by the workers of Kwara Water Corporation.

The over 500 Workers of the Corporation began a strike action on 1st April over non-payment of five months' salary arrears.

Around many of the major streets in llorin visited by DailyTrust correspondent, the taps were dry and residents go about with jerry cans on daily basis looking for borehole water in residential houses.

The acute pipe borne water scarcity also affects those who engage in car washing business in various parts of the state capital.

Residents of Sango area of llorin who used to buy water in 20-litre jerry can for N50 now buy it for N100. Some of the residential houses where boreholes or wells are available are preventing residents from fetching, claiming that the dry season is not yet over.

The state Commissioner for water Resources, Alhaji Abdulrasaq Akorede who commented on the scarcity, said the state government was working towards ending the strike.

He said the state government had approved the payment of four months' salary arrears out of the five months being owed. "We are ready to pay four months so that the strike can end," the Commissioner said.

The Chairman of the Kwara Water Corporation Workers Union, Alhaji Muritala AbdulKadir, while speaking with Daily Trust, said the strike would not be suspended until all salary arrears were paid. He added that the workers were not ready for any verification exercise since they had undergone one recently.