In most countries, Government is the main provider of clean, safe and portable water to the people, who in turn pay a small fee as water bill..  Here in Nigeria, it’s a different story. This essential commodity, second only to air, is still a luxury.

Just as with electricity, people are compelled to generate their own water by sinking boreholes in their homes and offices. Right now in Imo State, the average person cannot get water except they have access to a borehole. The days of villagers gathering at a public tap to fetch water are evidently gone.

Face2Face made a random check in Owerri to see if there’s still a public stand pipe anywhere or functioning tap and found none.  We then took the issue to the  former Hon. Commissioner for Public Utilities Public Safety and Youth Empowerment, Dr Ifeanyi Nwachukwu,  for some insight.  Below is the excerpt

What Government is doing about water:

When we came into office, we had to rehabilitate most of the water schemes including the Otamiri water scheme and some rural water schemes. The state Government had to reactivate most of our water schemes that have not been working over the years then (long pause) the scheme actually started working.

We handed the scheme over to Water Board and it is a situation whereby some people in water board are not actually committed to do their work. You know the attitude of an average Nigerian worker; you know how they take Government property or Government business.

When the schemes came back, we felt the water board could have sustained it but unfortunately they could not. We have seen that the only way out of the condition is to concession it. What I had to do was to advertise.

Concession means Privatization:

Yes, we have to give it to private companies which are willing to partner with the state government for them to run the water scheme for us. Let me give you an instance, most times you see you have a pipe burst they find it easier to go and lock the pipe. When you see a pipe burst along Wetheral road and the valve controlling that particular line is also controlling others and affecting Douglas road, Mbaise road etc you discover that they find it easier to go and lock the entire pipe.

On Water Board:

It is a parastatal. They are the ones that run the water scheme directly. Meanwhile, a situation where you have a burst pipe, when this burst pipe is detected the plumber will write to his HOD for him to kindly approve pipes for them to go and replace the burst pipe somewhere, the HOD will minute to the GM. At the end of the day, this thing will take like two days, the GM will now minute back to the HOD who will now minute to the store person to release two pipes or one. Before this exercise is completed, three days, four days have elapsed.

They have gotten approval to convey the pipe. It’s now the vehicle to convey the pipe, the driver will now say there’s no vehicle – and write to his own HOD who will minute  to the GM who will then minute to chief driver before money for  fuel is now released before they will now get to the Accounts.  So to replace a burst pipe will take close to two weeks.

Why privatization is Key:

If it’s a private organization, they will know that water wasting means a lot. They know how much it will take them to pump this water so they wouldn’t want any to waste. If there’s any pipe burst you see them going immediately and within a space of two to three hours they would have been able to replace the burst pipe.

Also when you tell the staff to go on revenue drive, they feel whether they go or not their salaries will be paid so they don’t go and most times when they go, they try to collude with consumers and try to shortchange the Government. So, no matter how you look at it, the best way is to concession it (water) out. Give it to a private company to run.

No job loss:

That does not mean we are going to lay off our staff. The staff will now be under the private company but the state Government will still be paying the staff. But then, they will be made to work. That’s where this country is heading to – PPP (private public partnership) has always been key.

Compares Water Board to Concord Hotel:

Take the issue of Concord and see when Government was running it, you got to Concord everywhere was filthy. Go to the room, it was totally unkempt, everywhere. The angle am coming from is private partnership, we are trying to make you understand that in Nigeria for us to move to the next  level we must imbibe the spirit of private partnership, that is the only way out.

How it’s done Overseas:

In the UK and other developed countries, private companies hardly survive, Government institution is very strong but here Government institutions are not that strong, private institutions are stronger. There is no way we can leave this thing under Government.  The best thing is to privatize. That’s what NEPA is also trying to do – that’s the only way so that when you privatize, you see that the private company will not want to run at a loss. What the state government will do now is to make sure that whatever bill is given to the individual the state government will pay part of it.

We have no water now…

No, no, they are still pumping water. The General Manager, as far as I am aware, has been working hard.    The water board just got a new GM two months ago. I think he’s working hard to make sure there’s potable water. Whenever I go there, he’s pumping water and most of the people that are complaining are no longer coming to complain.

I know that along Wetheral, there’s water. Water still comes from one source, Otamiri. It can’t be skeletal. Ikenegbu has water. Once they pump, people get water except in areas where we are laying the pipes or where road construction is going on. We also had to embark on replacement of old pipes with PVC pipes. AC pipes are a bit cancerous. The state government decided to start replacing the pipes but it’s something that will take years.

Message to Imo:

Very soon, you are going to start having more regular water supply.  We also want to tell Imolites to please remove their buildings from our utility lines because, in some cases, we cannot even rebuild the pipes, because people have built close to the gutter edge. You cannot run any cable; you can’t even do your maintenance work. Along Orlu road, a pipe burst and was found to be in somebody’s bedroom. In that case, what will you do?  By the time you start pulling down the houses, the opposition will cash into it. We are pleading with Imo people to remove their buildings from our utilities.

Last Word:

This Government has come to get the wrongs right. Whatever we need to do is for tomorrow – the best way is to get private company to partner with Government to run the water board.

Comments

comments