Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare has assured the National Assembly that the government is taking urgent steps to address water challenges in some parts of the Oshikoto Region.

Responding to a question by Independent Patriots for Change's MP Immanuel Nashinge, Dr. Ngurare acknowledged the severity of the situation.

Nashinge said that the villages have been without water for almost seven months, while learners at hostels were sent back home as a result.

"Early in the year, the Minister of Finance told us that she was going to borrow N$1.5 billion, and that money is to make sure that the people of Oshikoto, to be specific, and the Zambezi Region have water. What is the way forward, Prime Minister, that our people are going through the hardest?" he asked.

In response, the Premier announced that plans are in motion to find immediate and long-term solutions.

"I must convey to the affected areas my sincere apologies, but we are on it, hands on deck, to ensure that we can provide water through emergency service delivery of tankers as our normal emergency response to situations like that.  In the medium term, we plan to drill new boreholes and install fittings for those already drilled but not yet operational."