A cross-section of residents of Kwara State has commended the present administration of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq on the provision of potable water in the three senatorial districts of the state.

It is recalled that people had suffered health and various forms of inconveniences due to the lack of potable water before the present administration came into power in 2019.

Speaking with Tribune Online, a resident of the Adewole Estate area in the Ilorin metropolis, Alhaji Azeez Adebayo, said that for the first time in several years, people of the area have a regular supply of water from their taps on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

According to Alhaji Adebayo, an octogenarian, “Since the current administration came on board, we have been enjoying tap water supply. Before now, we only had a water supply once in several months to the extent that we had to abandon relying on public water. We contribute money for tankers to supply us with potable water. But that is now a thing of the past.”

Outside the state capital, residents of Olofa Way and Erinle Way in Offa and Oyun local government areas of the state as well as residents in Oro-Ago, Igbaja Oro, Ijomu Oro and other neighbouring towns in Kwara South senatorial district of the state also expressed satisfaction at the improvement in the public water supply by the present administration.

Residents of Kwara North, described by many as major beneficiaries of the current administration in terms of infrastructure provision, also commended the government on the effective supply of water from public taps by the state government.

Also speaking, the state commissioner for Water Resources, Hon. Abdulwahab Femi Agbaje said that the present administration met a comatose situation of water works in the state and set machinery in motion to address the challenges.

“The first thing we noticed was that apart from the electrical operation of our water works, the staff at the water Corporation were on three months strike.

“The governor had a meeting with the management team of the water Corporation, looked into their demands and they went back to work,” he said.

Agbaje also said that the government has so far rehabilitated 14 water works in Igbaja, Agbamu, Oro Ago, Rore, Offa, and Oyun, among other areas, stressing that rehabilitation of Oke Onigbin water work is in progress.

“Not only that, we initiated and built two water works. We have one at Dumaji and Jebba. That of Dumaji is functioning now. That in Jebba is about 80 per cent completed

“And not only that, we extended public water coverage to many places which had not enjoyed water supply before this administration came on board,” he said.

The Commissioner also said that Governor Abdulrazaq has just given the approval to rehabilitate nine water works. We are also starting another set of 65 boreholes across the state to take care of our communities that our Water Dams could not serve.”

The Commissioner further spoke about the interventions from PEWASH to complement the efforts of the government.

“It is Partnership on Expanded Water Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH). This is an arrangement between the state government and the federal government on counterpart funding. Last year, we picked four local governments for the pilot scheme of the arrangement where we selected Asa, Moro, Offa and Edu local governments.

“And under this arrangement, the state dug 24 boreholes in each of the local governments. This year we have commenced a project of getting another six local governments to also enjoy the benefit.

“There's water in Ilorin now like so many other local government areas. The feedback is very good,” he said.

On the challenges, the Commissioner highlighted the problem of power supply to the waterworks, especially in Kwara North senatorial district, adding that flood had also affected the operation of some waterworks.

“And apart from that, when you look at Asa Dam, it is the major dam that we have in Kwara state. And it supplies a very large percentage of the people in this state. When you now look at the activities of the fish farmers in that axis. When you have over 10,000 people fishing around the dam and they are releasing their chemical wastes directly into our water. This has a serious negative effect on most of our equipment. When we look at our machines, nozzles etc, it hampers our services.”