In another of the ”3rd National urban water sector reform” Ekiti State World Bank Collaboration sensitization sessions anchored by Ekiti State Water Corporation, this workshop themed ”Water as an Economic Resource” was held cognizant of Covid19 protocol.
The Ekiti water stakeholders workshop started at about 9am in the morning with participants making entries by getting registered and properly adhering to the covid-19 protocol
Right after the opening prayers a welcome address was delivered by the Hon. Commissioner for infrastructure and public utility in the person of Hon.Bamidele Faparusi.
The event took a new turn when the first speaker in the person of Mrs Agbeyo who happens to be the General manager of the Ekiti state water corporation.
Mrs Agbeyo who spoke on understanding the Ekiti state water corporation’s roles and function included the need for sustainability and a reform that would bring about change and the need for continuity.
Agbeyo further talked about the need for clean, hygienic and ready to drink water. Wholesome,disease free and portable water.
An interview with the permanent secretary ministry of infrastructure and public utility Engr. Olumide Ajayi who shed more light on the overview of water situation in Ekiti state gave insight on the reforms saying
JFK first term gave a plan to reform the sector, which is now in motion and at the investment stage, that is rehabilitating the existing infrastructures mainly Ero Water Dam, Ureje water Dam and Egbe water Dam.
Below is excerpt of an interview session with the project Cordinator ENGR. KUNLE SIWOKU
INTERVIEWER: Good morning sir, you are the Project Coordinator as we were informed, can you please tell us your name?
INTERVIEWER: My name is Engineer Kunle Siwoku.
INTERVIEWER: There has been series of sensitization programmes, workshops, sessions around Ekiti Water, you are the Project Coordinator can you please sir tell us what we, the public need to know about the project.
INTERVIEWER: Basically, it is a World Bank supported project, the World Bank came to Nigeria very early in the 2000’s they started a first and second project which some states participated in and figured that we need to move forward from there and so brought in the idea of reform into the sector, before now the Bank will come and bring a project and when they return in another 3 to 5 years there are no projects so they figured what they need to do is to reform the sector so, this basically has to do with reform so the main point of this project is to reform the Utility Outfit that is in charge of the Water and also to reform the way we do business around the sector.
Basically, we are coming in to reform how people look at producing and giving water from the point of view of the State Water Agency, and also in doing this there is no way you will do a reform and you will not give people water to feel a taste of what you are bringing, in this regard we have decided that it will be nice to rehabilitate all the Treatment Plants in Ekiti and I am proud to say that this government in power now started this project in 2014 that is Dr kayode Fayemi’s administration precisely, he had the concept of the project he got the loan and started the project in 2014 before power changed hands and since then we have not been able to do much until he came back again you know, he was the one who brought the energy back into the project and since his return we have accelerated the project very well.
INTERVIEWER: lets imagine I’m on the street and not too lettered what does this project mean to me if I live in Ado, maybe another local government what can I expect from this project?
INTERVIEWEE: You see, the truth about this project is it is an urban reform project which means it is targeted directly at urban towns or urban areas, Ado Ekiti is used as a pilot in this project so most of the activities that we are doing on this borders around Ado Ekiti and the Immediate LGAs in Ado environ. What this project is doing is we are rehabilitating all the Water Systems around Ado Ekiti that is the Ureje Water Scheme will be brought back to its original capacity then because also that Ureje is small in size, it cannot feed Ado alone, so we need to import water from outside Ado-Ekiti that is why we are also working at Ero, Ero is about the largest capacity scheme in Ekiti as we speak, so we are bringing water from Ero to Ado Ekiti but the problem is over time the pipelines that convey water from Ero to Ado Ekiti especially through Ifaki to Ado has been severed during construction of road so we also need to do this trunk means so we are repairing this trunk means so that by the time that Ero is producing at full blast which I am sure in a week or two it will start to produce, water can get to Ado Ekiti.
INTERVIEWER: Okay sir, would I be correct to say you are private sector player? You are the Project Manager?
INTERVIEWEE: I am the Project Manager, I am a Consultant working for the state.
INTERVIEWER: The question I want to throw at you now sir is what has your experience been? We have the PRO for Water Corporation here with us, in your own word I will very much like you to share the experience you’ve had with the Water Corporation and going forward how you envisage future relations?
INTERVIEWEE: The major issue with the Corporation is a capacity issue which what we did was to do a diagnostics of the utility outfit and we have seen where the problem lies and what we are doing now is to make designs of what can be done to make it a best performing Utility outfit. All the designs are on ground just waiting for approval if his Excellency will just clear these designs then the Corporation will be energized to perform better, for example best performing utility outfits in the world now must embrace what is called performance contract. The General Manager or the MD will go to the government and say this is what I will deliver and there will be a contract around that and the MD or the GM will also come back to the Utility and tell all the Directors this is what you should deliver and there will be a contract around that so that people will see there is no more a Civil Service thing, you cannot deliver water sustainably using the Civil Service approach the days of that has gone. What we are saying in this workshop is that it is suppose to be an economic item, you need to give people service and then they pay so that you can sustain your system and that is where we are now. We want to be… For example we are in partnership with one of the best performing Utility outfit in Africa Lusaka Water, they are our partner and they are training us like it is peer learning teaching us day to day how they have gone through all these places and they are where they are today and they are making a lot of money which we figure we can also do in Ekiti because our size is even about the same with theirs so we also figure in Ekiti if we get it right we can also do it sustainably.
INTERVIEWER: It has been very Insightful speaking with you sir, I must thank you and I am sure this will not be the last opportunity for us to learn from your wealth of experience. Thank you very much sir.