The long-sought respite from water scarcity has continued to elude the people of the Central Senatorial District of Kogi State as the Okene Waterworks, which is the main water source in the area, remains moribund.
The waterworks which was established 88 years ago, precisely in 1933, draws its water from the Ekuku and Okeneba dams.
Its establishment was said to have been influenced by the then Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Alhaji Ibrahim Onoruoyiza Atta, to address the water challenges in the area.
However, over several decades now, the waterworks has suffered neglect by successive governments at the state and federal levels amid obsolete equipment and decaying infrastructure.
Hope rose for the people of the area in 2004 following the upgrade and expansion of the waterworks to Idiche and Okeneba communities by the Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority (LNRBDA) under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
However, the intervention was not holistic as some segments were ignored.
In 2014, the LNRBDA in Ilorin, Kwara State, again awarded a contract of N51.1million for the perimetre fencing of the waterworks, with full contract sum paid, but the contractor refused to move to site.
Following this, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), acting on a petition by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Value for Money, which tracked the contract, investigated the matter.
In 2016, the ICPC forced the contractor back to site to complete the fencing thereby securing the waterworks against vandalism and contamination of its storage tanks and reservoirs.
However, the intervention did not really address the problem of water scarcity in the area, hence stakeholders calling for full expansion of the waterworks.
Rigmaroles over the project
In November 2017, Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, who hails from the area, promised to resuscitate the waterworks with an expansion and upgrading that would end water scarcity in the area.
Part of the early interventions promised by the governor included desilting, replacement of steel pipes, tidying of storage tanks, expansion of the dam, provision of water reticulation equipment, among others.
Governor Bello said the state government was “just” waiting for the outcome of a technical audit of the facility it ordered with expectation of the result “within a window period of one week” to commence action on the project.
The governor noted that with a feasibility study by the Ministry of Water Resources, he had given a target of six months to get the water running; cutting out all bureaucratic obstacles.
Five months later, in April 2018, Governor Bello flagged off work for the complete rehabilitation, dredging and reticulation of the waterworks with a completion period of 72 days.
The representative of Salcom Engineering which was to handle the project, Engr Zubair Abdul, noted that the proposed expansion would increase the capacity of the waterworks from 50,000 litres to 252,000 litres.
With Engr Abdul’s assurances, Governor Bello declared that, “When the project is completed, every household in Kogi Central will experience abundant water supply.”
The flag off led to the renaming of the waterworks to the governor’s initials, “GYB Water” by the state government.
However, more than three years after the flag off, nothing has been done at the site and the promise of “abundant water” continues to elude the people of the district.
Project on course
When our correspondent reached out to the Commissioner for Water Resources, Abdulmuminu Daga, via telephone over the development, he said plans were still on to complete the project.
The commissioner said his ministry had just put finishing touches to the bid document on the project for approval by Governor Bello.
He explained that, “The moment we have the approval we will advertise for interested firms to bid, after which the best will be selected.”
He, however, refused to entertain further inquires about the outcome of previous commitments by the state government.
Boreholes to the rescue
As the politics of the water supply situation in the area continues, wealthy individuals have resorted to boreholes in their homes and many of them have seized the opportunity for economic gains by selling water from the boreholes.
The development has led to the proliferation of boreholes, especially in Okene town, with consequent threat to the health of the people and the environment.
Experts fear that as the population of the area continues to rise, human activities, including soil fertility remediation, indiscriminate refuse and waste disposal could produce leachates into groundwater formation that serve as the main source of water.
One of the experts, Dr Jimoh Ozigi, affirmed that, “Proliferation and contamination of groundwater pose serious public health risk and long-term environmental hazard to the people.”
A 2019 survey by Clement Ameh Yaro, Ezekiel Kogi, Agatha Eleojo Onoja, Taiwo Cletus Attah and Blessing Omeneke Zubairu titled: “Challenges and Spatial Distribution of Water Infrastructure (Boreholes) in Okene Town, Kogi State, Nigeria”, published in the Journal of Applied Sciences, put the number of boreholes in the ancient city at 287 with about 68.4 per cent functioning.
The group concluded that the numbers were fewer because of the rocky nature of the city which makes access to groundwater difficult, even though it said there are hundreds of hand-dug wells to complement the shortage.
The group noted that, “In terms of borehole functionality, 195 boreholes (68.4 per cent) were functioning, while 90 boreholes (31.6 per cent) were non-functional. A total of 67 per cent of the functioning boreholes were privately owned, while 12, 6, 7 and 8 per cent were owned by the state government, federal government, MDGs and others respectively.”
It further noted that the development put the poor at a serious disadvantage as they daily struggled to access water from few sources and paid more for same.
