RESEARCH ON THE MARKET POTENTIAL FOR LOCAL PURIFIED WATER IN ILAJE, NIGERIA. A RESEARCH PROJECT TOPIC ON BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
ABSTRACT
Lack of potable water has always been a problem for many communities, especially in developing countries, and Ilaje in Nigeria, is not an exception to this lack of healthy water. The aim of this study was focused on current water situation in Ilaje, hence investigating the market potential for purified potable water in the region. There are different reports from the United Nations and more organizations about future shortage of water. Among the world strategic resources, oil, land, coal etc., none of them will be more valuable than fresh water in the coming decades.
The oil rich Ilaje region has a population of approximately three hundred thousand (300,000) inhabitants; this alone is staggering enough to convince potential investors in water technology industry. However, there was a need to look into the possibility of ventur-ing into such a business there, through some research methods that will get the opinion of the prospective consumers and the view of the policy makers towards a private purified water company in the region. This resulted in a structured questionnaire to carry out a sur-vey; some interviews were also executed to support the available secondary information.
Despite being surrounded with water, it was found that drinking waters are supplied to Ilaje communities from neighbouring towns through motor trucks; the closest town is about 25km away from Ilaje, and the purity of the water is not guaranteed. Based on all the information gathered, Ilaje remains a potential market for healthy potable water, but still lacks basic infrastructures for direct water supply to homes through pipes.
1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background
Oil was discovered in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria towards the late 1950’s (Mbendi 2010) and the Ilaje communities are parts of this oil rich region. Due to the continuous spills of crude oil (Waado 2010) from the oil mining rings; the entire ecosystem in these communi-ties has been decaying for decades. Healthy seafood’s and fresh agricultural produce are becoming scarce including clean drinking water.
