Water, Water Everywhere But Ekiti Residents Are Thirsty
When the Nigeria Governors’ Forum secretariat visited the state on a peer review tour early this month, they were taken to Ureje dam, one of the water resources in the state built since 1958 but is now being submerged by water hyacinth. Although the water from the dam as at that time was not being […]
When the Nigeria Governors’ Forum secretariat visited the state on a peer review tour early this month, they were taken to Ureje dam, one of the water resources in the state built since 1958 but is now being submerged by water hyacinth. Although the water from the dam as at that time was not being reticulated for transmission to households, government officials said waterworks at the dam was being repaired to ensure that potable water is provided to the people.
The water plant beside the serene dam appeared abandoned with grasses overrunning some sections of the premises. Rusty and derelict equipment littered the expansive compound. However, in other sections, especially the production area, repair work was going on. At least a giant one million litre reservoir was being fixed. According to Engineer Julius Olofin, the General Manager, Ekiti State Water Corporation, transmission of the water was a major challenge. He said Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) under the Conditional Grant Scheme has intervened to address the critical water situation in the state by constructing water fetching points across the state, but reticulating water to the points is the hurdle the corporation is now facing. He emphasised that funding was a major problem which is why the government decided to concession the water works.
“We are putting the infrastructure on ground and we will then ensure that water gets to the people. We have achieved 65 per cent in the turn around maintenance of our water works and we are hoping that by the time we reach 100 per cent, clean water will be provided to the people. Our major challenge is funds, but we have given the dams out to concessionaires and the plan of the concessionaires is to invest in the equipment, the pumps, change the obsolete pumps and whatever equipment that will make them produce at maximum capacity,” Olofin said.
Engineer Olofin added that the concessionaires are also determined to increase the production capacity of the water plants in the state. He said that Ekiti state needed to produce 85 million litres of water per day to quench the thirst of the people. “But the facilities on ground can produce 106 million litres per day. So by the time the concessionaires move to site properly, rehabilitate the equipment, they can reach that capacity. We are hoping that in two to three years, we would have reached that capacity.”
Investigations by Sunday Trust revealed that in order to increase water distribution in the state, the Oni government in concert with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) supplied and laid pipes covering 262 kilometres, constructed seven booster stations and two million litres reservoirs, rehabilitated two booster stations, constructed 1770 units water fetching points, supplied and installed seven generators and overhauled existing water treatment plants in Ikun, Egbe, Ado Ekiti, Itapaji, Efon, Igbara Odo, Ido Ile, Okemesi and Ikere Ekiti. Also, contracts for the concessioning of production facilities at Ero water supply, Ikun; Ado water supply and Itapaji water supply were signed early this year. New treatment plants are being worked on at Erinjiyan, Ido Ile, Okemesi, Ipole Iloro, Efon Allaye and Afao Kajola, Ikere-Ekiti, while the one at Ado Ekiti has just been completed.
Meanwhile, residents across the state decry the lack of potable water. According to Tom Aduba, a food and beverages manager in a hotel in Ado-Ekiti, water scarcity in the state is not a new story and he does not know how soon it would end. “For us who have been here all these years, water scarcity is no longer a big issue. Because it seems to have no end in sight, we are trying to live with it. We usually get drinkable water from Akure so we try to use it wisely. It is a precious product around here,” he said.
He said because of the scarcity of water in Ado-Ekiti, the hotel where he works do not serve breakfast with water. “That is why we do not serve breakfast with drinking water. We only serve lunch and dinner with water. That is our own way of managing the water crisis in the state. Some of our customers complain but we try to make them understand that it was the best thing we could do. At least one can take tea at breakfast in lieu of water but one cannot do same for lunch or dinner,” Aduba said.
For Tony Oluwale, “Water is so important that it shouldn’t be as scarce as it is in Ekiti. The surprising thing is that we have abundant water resources in the state, so I see no reasons we should not have potable water. We have Ikogosi natural springs, Arinta waterfalls, Ureje dam and Itapaji dam, among others in the state so why should we thirst in the midst of plenty water?,” he queried.
Mr Oluwale said since hand dug wells do not produce water because of the rocky topography of the state, it was pertinent for government to take the issue of water supply seriously so that the people will enjoy their lives. “Ekiti state is known as the ‘fountain of knowledge’ and I am hoping that it will become a fountain of water soon because of our endowment with water resources,” he said.
The following day, the peer review team travelled to Itapaji to inspect the Ikole-Itapaji road that was under construction and also inspect the rehabilitation work at the Itapaji dam. At Itapaji too, residents cried out loud against the government for failing to provide them with water. Clement Ajai, a primary school teacher, was visibly shaking when he lamented the plight of residents of Itapaji who live close to a water dam but do not have access to potable water. “You can all see that we live close to the dam but we do not get drinking water here. We have water fetching points everywhere but no single drop of water ever drips from it. When will our governments start giving us what we deserve to have? Is it asking for too much when we ask for potable water?,” he queried.
For Elizabeth Aborisade, a community woman leader, lack of reservoirs in Itapaji is the main reason water is scarce in the town. She however, commended the state governor, Segun Oni, for constructing the Ikole-Itapaji road but lamented the scarcity of water. “Government has done very well by constructing this road but when we all die of thirst who are those who will use the road? We do not have reservoirs here, even though we have a dam nearby. We always run short of water,” she said.
The Itapaji dam looked calm and vast as the team stood at the northeastern bank and gazed wonderingly at the gorgeous water. The dam with its source from Ele River could have been providing at least two million, five hundred litres of water every day to the sleepy, ancient town of Itapaji and environs but since it was established in 1975, it has not done much to serve the water needs of the people. Water hyacinth covered the banks of the dam and was creeping towards the middle of the tranquil dam. Fishermen’s canoes were anchored at the banks of the dam. Engineer Olofin said that government was planning to embark on aqua culture and generation of electricity from the dam. He said because of the other projects that the government was planning to do with the dam, they would be soon dredged.
The policy consultant to the (NGF) on Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr Babagana Abba Gambo, had earlier said that if the dams were not dredged and the water hyacinth cleared, it would become a breeding place for bacteria and viruses. He stressed that when the dams become bacteria and virus infested, government will spend more money treating the water and when not treated, it would cause water-borne diseases to consumers.
In response, Olofin said that the state is partnering with the Federal Ministry Of Environment over the dams and they are expecting the commencement of the dredging project soon. “We are hoping to do a mini hydro here so the dredging of the dam will be carried out soon,” he said.
Engineer Olofin assured that facilities are on ground and the concessioning process is the right step taken by government to ensure that the people get water. “It is the facilities that will get water to the people and the facilities are there. So it is not water first, it is the facilities first. We have integrated pipe network in the state, the reservoirs are there and the booster stations are there and it will not be long before the people can have water. Now that the concessionaires are here to produce water to maximum capacity, water will be pumped to the people soon.”
He stressed that at maximum capacity, water can even be sold to neighbouring states. “What we need in the state is just 85 million litres and at full capacity, we can produce up to 106 million litres which means we can sell to neighbouring states.”
Also explaining what the government is doing to ensure that the people of Ekiti get potable water, the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Sikiru T. Lawal, during an exit meeting with the peer review team in Ado-Ekiti, said that government is ensuring that it tackles promptly, the water problem in the state.
Although the provision of potable water to citizens may be a major challenge for all governments in the country, the acute scarcity of water in Ekiti state underscores the fact that government has not done enough to address the issue. At the last National Council on Water Resources (NCWR) meeting held in Lagos in August 2008, the Minister of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, then Alhaji Sayyadi Abba Ruma, informed Council members of the “new policy thrust of the federal government.” The policy thrust was that President Umaru Musa Yar’adua needed all the water resources in the country for food production to achieve one of his seven point agenda on food sufficiency and therefore will no longer fund water supply.
On March 12, 2009, the Minister, through the Minister of State, held a meeting with commissioners manning water resources in their respective states in Abuja. At the meeting, the commissioners were told that there was declining access to potable water due to dysfunctional facilities which can no longer make water supply possible. They were then informed that given the economic meltdown and dwindling revenue from oil, the federal government will no longer fund water supply projects in the country. The federal government will rather fund large dams for multipurpose uses, especially for irrigation. They were also informed that the federal government had changed the cost sharing formula agreed on in the National Water Supply and Sanitation Policy, 2000, though it was without consultations with all relevant stakeholders. The cost sharing formula in the 2000 policy gave the federal government 50 per cent for capital projects in rural and small towns and 30 per cent in urban areas. In the revised policy, the federal government will have zero per cent contribution in capital projects and operation and maintenance of water supply and sanitation projects in urban centres, small towns and rural areas.
Most recently, the federal government has inaugurated the Federal Projects Assessment Committee, seemingly to probe the execution of multi-billion naira projects being executed by major Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Top on the list of the MDAs whose projects are going to be assessed are the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Acting President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, well placed sources confirmed, would want to assess and probe the multi-billion naira projects in the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources. These include, the Ogbese dam project in Ekiti State, valued at N5.49 billion, the Zobe dam project, in Katsina State at a cost of N6.86 billion, the new Nigeria Farmers project in Kwara State at a cost of N2.82 billion and other irrigation projects in other states, running into billions of naira.
How that will translate into potable water for the people of Nigeria, especially Ekiti citizens who like young gazelles thirst at the precipice of natural springs for water, remains largely to be seen.