MUCH ADO ABOUT WATER IN ANAMBRA STATE

Athanas Ezevuike

Despite God's benevolence and magnanimity in providing the inevitable requirements for life subsistence (air, water, light, the soil etc), man, in many of his habitations, particularly in black Africa, has failed to optimally harness the availability of these for greater life among his fold.

This failure, largely consequent upon the negligence of man in running his affairs, accounts for the pains which make life hard, degenerate and short in most human communities. Anambra State in the past suffered its share of this degradation which laid the state almost entirely waste, approximating it to Thomas Hobbes's postulation on the state of nature.

This was before the new turn of political revolution in the state in March, 2006 which threw up Mr. Peter Obi as the state Governor. Since the dawn of this dispensation, there have been concerted efforts to purge the state of the Augean stables nurtured by the old order.

This renaissance manifests in the sustained systematic infrastructural rejuvenation now recognized in Anambra in terms of good road network, enhanced health institutions and health services, school renovations and enablement for effective learning, among others.

Today, Anambra State celebrates the gains of good governance. This time, the government of the state, in furtherance of its demonstration of commitment to the needs of the people, has embarked on multiple water projects. The government has commenced actions aimed at providing potable water to majority of the inhabitants of the state who for long have suffered penurious deficiency of this primary essential in situating decent living.

Considering the relevance of water in the lives of the people, particularly the urban dwellers, one wonders why it took the government this long to engage in this plausible scheme.

A critical look at the enormous demands of such projects in terms of funding, planning and other logistics suggests why past governments in the state lacked the will to delve into them; it also explains the extended time this government took in strategizing before coming up with the present medium and large scale schemes articulated towards alleviating the people's thirst for potable water.

recall that shortly after Mr. Obi took charge of the state, he identified the water supply situation in the state as critical; he therefore declared it as demanding emergency action. As a palliative, a special intervention package was quickly designed to assuage the pains of small and most vulnerable communities like schools and hospitals where scarcity of the substance was causing untold hardship to the inmates as well as sabotaging the core essence of the institutions.

The government quickly caused boreholes to be sunk in secondary schools, colleges and hospitals as a way of immediately responding to the intractable water crisis it identified therein. That was celebrated, and students in schools are now spared the distractions of chasing the lures of life outside schools while presumed to be scouting for water.

The present thrust of the Government of Anambra State is geared towards confronting the more elaborate challenge of providing drinking water for the larger communities and the people of the State.

In this operation termed Anambra Medium Term Water Supply Programme, the Government has not only declared intension to execute seventeen new major water supply projects, it has gone ahead to kick-start actions towards achieving this mouthwatering scheme by awarding contracts for the construction of large capacity water boreholes spread across the state.

At the flag-off of Nibo-Nise Millenium Development Goals Water Scheme, Governor Peter Obi again exuded his passion for running a people inclusive government. This he did by stating that although the total fund for the project was already available, the contractor, who had already been sufficiently mobilized to site, would only receive full payment on completion of the work if the Nibo and Nise communities certify the job well done.

This empowerment of the people underscores their relevance in ownership of government projects in their locality and their inherent responsibility in preserving such projects from wanton mismanagement and decay. To further embolden the communities in sustaining the water projects, the Commissioner for Public Utilities Water Resources and Community Development, Mr. Emeka Nwankwu, disclosed government's intention to establish Water Consumers Association which would allow public involvement in the management and maintenance of water projects across the state.

On the line-up of the multiple water projects flagged-off by the state government are Njikoka-Dunukofia medium scale water scheme valued at N141 million, the Nibo project worth N140 million; a greater Aguata water project sourced from Obizi is yet another in the schedule of the government of the state to make potable water available and affordable for the people.

There is the Agu-Inyi water scheme involving boreholes and resuscitation of large water reservoirs across the beneficiary communities. There are the Nimo, Nnewi water projects among others.

One can go on and on enumerating these projects and their sizes, but more worthy of note is the underlying character of Anambra State Government towards serving the people of the state. This was succinctly encapsulated in Governor Obi's remark while addressing the crowd present at the flag-off of Njikoka-Dunukofia water project.

The days of wastage of public funds are gone, the Governor said, What I have done these past four years is to use public money for public good, he concluded. Here therefore lies the heart of the matter, for it is this transparent prudence that has made it possible for the state government to reach understandings with reputable international organizations towards assisting the state in its various developmental quests.

Athanas Ezevuike writes from Adazi-Nnukwu.