The public water supply schemes have broken down and been abandoned in many states of the South-South geographical zone.

In Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and River states, NDV found that 90 percent of the public water supply systems were dysfunctional. The story is not different in Edo and Cross River states.

Successive governments have not shown satisfactory interest in reactivating the water projects, and some laid-down pipes were destroyed in the bid to construct new road projects.

The people are groaning and called on their governments to revisit the malfunctioning water projects and initiate new ones where necessary to provide them with water, which they describe as life.

Flopped after Alamieyeseigha in Bayelsa

In Bayelsa state, there was a public water supply to some parts of the state during the administration of the first civilian governor, late Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, but it suffered a setback in 2012.

The state government has expended so much to get water, the state Water Board is not functioning and residents of Yenagoa, the state capital have no access to water supply.

The state government and the Ministry of Water Resources have constantly promised to restore the public water supply, but this has turned out to be a mirage.

Privileged individuals who sink boreholes in their respective buildings enjoy water.

Other residents are at the mercy of water vendors, popularly called ‘meruwa,’ who sell the commodity at a high cost since the boreholes are powered with diesel in a state that hardly records six hours of uninterrupted electricity.

No water in the Ministry of Water Resources

The water scarcity is not limited to individual families alone, as several other government agencies, including the Ministry of Water Resources, undergo the same predicament.

At the state secretariat, the vendors supply the offices with water in jerrycans for use in their toilets.

The story is worse in the far-flung communities where the residents rely on their polluted rivers, streams, and sometimes the overhead tanks and boreholes provided by the oil companies in their area. They run the overhead and boreholes with petrol- or diesel-powered generators, so sustenance was often expensive.

Go cracking, Morris tells the government

Speaking on the water situation in the state, a resident, Alagoa Morris, said, “The government should embark on an integrated public water supply that is well treated after conducting a proper feasibility study.”

“Water is life and one of the basic things that the government needs to provide to the people and the people should be ready to pay water rate just as we pay for borehole operators, for sachet and bottled water.

“We need a well-planned system by experts to pump water from the Ikoli River into an underground reservoir, treat it, and pump it to the overhead tank for distribution after reticulation.

“This can also be replicated in rural areas. I expect the governor, Senator Douye Diri to embark on this during his second term in office.”

BDI slams government

However, the Bayelsa Development Initiative (BDI) flayed the government’s inability to address the water situation in the predominantly riverine state.

Secretary of the BDI’s Michael Sam-Rodamini lamented that while a whopping N39.4 billion was budgeted for the governor’s office and N7 billion for the Government House, Yenagoa, in the 2024 budget, the entire Ministry of Water Resources got a paltry N1.7 billion.

“The implication is that the masses of Bayelsa will continue to buy water from vendors. With such a paltry sum of money budgeted for the Ministry of Water Resources, it signposts that the government has no plan to embark on the much-needed water reticulation project to connect Bayelsa homes to pipe-borne water. This government is not ready to do anything that will benefit the people,” he said.

Momentary joy — Egba, resident

Speaking on the development, a resident of Osiri, Ekeki suburb of the state capital, Mr. Nelson Egba said, “After the completion of the water reticulation during the administration of Chief Timipre Sylva, we were one of the first streets to enjoy pipe-borne water by the proximity to the state water board, following the reticulation.”

“But it was short-lived as the pipes were dug out during the expansion of the Isaac Boro Expressway during the administration of Governor Seriake Dickson. Since then, We depend on water vendors for our daily water supply.

“If the state government can revisit the waterworks and make it functional, it will solve our water needs because, presently, we pay too much for water, which in most cases is not well treated, exposing us to water-borne diseases.”

I spend N30,000 monthly to buy water — Faith

A mother of four and resident of Toolda Road in the heart of Yenagoa, identified as Mrs. Faith, said she spends N1,000 daily and N30,000 monthly to buy water for her entire household.

“The water situation in Yenagoa is appalling. It is unimaginable that a state capital will lack basic amenities like potable water. What do we say about rural communities if the state government cannot provide water for the state capital? As a family, we spent N1000 or more daily and over N30,000 monthly to buy water alone for domestic use.

“The state government should come to our aid by providing the residents clean and potable drinking water, and in the interim, the state government can provide for the residents using dispensing trucks. This will go a long way to solving the domestic water needs of the residents.”

Gov Diri raises expectation

However, Governor Douye Diri had, during his second term inauguration, assured Bayelsans of his administration’s determination to provide potable water to the populace.

His words: “Pivotal in our second tenure is addressing the potable water distribution challenges via a comprehensive approach focusing on efficient utilization and equitable access to this precious utility. We will thus invest in water production and reticulation, particularly within the state capital.”

Practically, a complete breakdown in Akwa Ibom

In Akwa Ibom State, the public water supply inherited by Governor Umo Eno’s administration is appalling and near total collapse.

According to the administration’s findings, 29 public water stations spread across 15 local government areas were left to rot due to neglect by successive administrations, with just about a billion naira restoration needed.

This development explains why, across the state, public water pipes have run dry as citizens who used to enjoy the public utility turn to self-help, digging boreholes to get water.

Despite Edoho Etuk, General Manager of Akwa Ibom Water Company, disclosed in September, last year, approval of funds for a quick fix on five of the water stations running inefficiently, with plans to work on 24 in due course, residents have not noticed improvement.

Uneven supply — Asuquo, resident

Etim Asuquo, a tailor who operates at Ekpeyong Street, where one of the public water stations is located, said some residents, including those in adjoining Akpakpan Street and Ekpo Obot Streets, in the heart of Uyo, still get supply at times and on certain conditions.

“Most compounds receive water but do not flow to story buildings. We only have it when they pump public power, so you can imagine how irregular, knowing what the challenge of an epileptic public power supply is.

“So anytime we have light water, people rush to fetch because private boreholes are hard to procure here due to the unfriendly soil formation. In this area, you cannot see people drilling boreholes. You have only three or four compounds with boreholes because drilling in this terrain is expensive.

“When they drill, it collapses, and even for those who have successfully drilled, the water coming out is not safe for drinking. It is colored. You can only use it for washing. The public water company confirmed they dig more than 500 meters deep to get the potable water they provide. Most private boreholes cannot afford to drill beyond 150 feet deep.

“Those that the public water does not flow in their compounds, the company allows them to come into their premises and fetch from 6 am to 8 am, and then from 4 pm to 6 pm in the Etim Asuquo station.”

Major pipes broken down — Okon, inhabitant

Unite Okon, who lives off Barracks Road, where the State Government House, Judicial Quarters, Police, and other public institutions are sheltered. said, “This area still enjoys public water supply, but not regularly. Some major pipes have also broken down, so when there is water, much volume is wasted when many people cannot find public water in their area.”

Some residents of Ekpenya Street and Ikot Ekpene Road in Uyo said they used to have pipe-borne water from public waterworks until the piping network was destroyed in the roads’ upgrade.

“We used to enjoy public water supply, but that was over 10 years before successive governments started solving one problem to create another. They came to dualize this road, destroyed the water pipes in the process, and never fixed the back”, one resident said.

No public water supply in our area — Effiong, dweller

Arita Effiong, who lives in Nsukkara, Uyo, said, “Do not even go there is public water supply. This is a new layout where everybody gets water on self-help. We have never tasted public water here.”

“We do not know what it looks like and we do not see any indication that we will have it soon, when existing infrastructures has broken down in places that used to enjoy public water for years, with the government turning a blind eye.”

We’re hopeful — Etuk, GM, A-Ibom water firm

As terrible as it seems, Edoho Etuk, General Manager of Akwa Ibom Water The company strongly believes, “We cannot leave an N15 billion investment or assets and allow it to rot. We need to revive those stations.”

“We have a high level of prospect in the water industry and with the water law in place, and the creation of the new ministry, the water sector will receive a boost.”

Botched promises in Rivers

Like other states, various water projects are abandoned in parts of Rivers state, especially the Ogoni area.

Speaking on the backdrop of lack of access to clean water for domestic use, the President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, said for the obvious reason of decades of contamination of the environment by oil spills, Ogoni faces a dire consequence of such pollution that has badly affected their sources of water.

He stated that since independence in 1960, several water projects buckled, and there have been no deliberate efforts by the government since then to restore them.

Saying there was no account of the $6 billion water project the President Muhammadu Buhari government approved, he noted, “We have no idea if the money was released as allegedly approved. We do not know if there is any water project in Ogoni because we cannot see any.”

According to him, the government of former governor, Rotimi Amaechi, promised to set up water projects in the four local government areas of Ogoni, which never happened.

His words: “Amaechi had promised us water projects. We did not see that. The government of Nyesom Wike had also promised water projects to the tune of about ¦ 3billion. Before he left office, former President Buhari approved $6 billion for water in Ogoni. We cannot see any of these”.

“The government should revisit those abandoned water projects across Rivers state and Ogoni in particular, and rehabilitate them to make enough water available for the people.

“Having said that, the abandoned projects should be investigated and anybody found wanting should be made to face the law.”

Public water supply system gone kaput in Delta

In Delta State, the gigantic water reservoir established at Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area by the defunct Bendel State government has completely broken down.

A community source who spoke to NDV said: “The water reservoir is along Prof. Ebie Street. The state government operated it as a public reservoir years ago.

“They used to lay pipes across the streets, and if you needed water, you went to the taps. Now, there is nothing like that anymore. They have their office along Prof Ebie Street.

“If you go there, you will see the gigantic reservoir, but it is not functioning. The reservoir broke down a long time ago and no longer serves anyone.

“If you look at most of the communities, you will discover that people depend on private boreholes, and sometimes, the communities drill their boreholes.

“The federal government initiated another one at Oki. I do not know the time frame of when they are supposed to execute the project, so I cannot authoritatively say it is abandoned.”

Another indigene identified another gigantic water scheme, close to Ika Grammar School, initiated by the late Samuel Ogbemudia administration in the defunct Midwest Region, as another project the government abandoned.

“There is another water project in Oza-nogogo community. It was abandoned a long time ago; they had planned to connect it to the one close to Ika Grammar School to distribute water to Abavo and other communities, but that was how it ended.

The same problem in Agbor afflicting Isoko

The water scheme is located at the Ekpo quarters of the Igbide community. Isoko South local government area, Delta State, is currently facing abandonment.

The water project provided by the then-administration of Prof Ambrose Alli, in the defunct Bendel State, to cater for the potable water need of the people had since broken down, with efforts to rehabilitate it yielding no results.

It was diesel-powered then and had an estimated capacity of over 20,000 gallons, served the villagers for many years until the end of the administration when it became redundant.

A community source said defunct OMPADEC had tried to intervene in reviving it, but its attempts ended unsuccessfully.

He said the contractor abandoned the rehabilitation contracts for the project awarded by various administrations, adding, “From one contractor to another, they will hand it over to another contractor, who will abandon it just like that.”

Akarai-Obodo community cries out to Delta govt

At Akarai-Obodo, Ndokwa East local government area, the people called on the state government to reactivate the industrial borehole, the only source of drinking water for the community.

President General of the community, Mr. Onyema Emeke Emmanuel, said a former member of parliament representing Ndokwa East Constituency, Dr. Olise Imegwu influenced the project.

“Ever since the 2012 flood, which ravaged the entire community, the generator got damaged, the treatment plant got damaged, and the borehole has not been functioning.”

“The community has tried multiple times to draw the government’s attention, but all in vain.

We plead with the government to reactivate or convert this borehole to solar to enable the community to enjoy potable drinking water.

“Akarai-Obodo community needs good and clean drinking water, Our people are dying severally, all in the name of no potable drinking water. Everything about the borehole now being faulty,” he said. (Vanguard)

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