By Joe Ezuma
Assistant Editor, South South
Rivers State is in the ironic situation of “water, water everywhere, but not a glass to drink” – the lot since the 1990s when taps built in the colonial era finally dried up due to neglect by local managers.
Governor Nyesom Wike is trying to raise a new hope, by picking up from where his two predecessors, Peter Odili and Rotimi Amaechi, left off.
Up to $328 million is expected to be on the table in the drive to satisfy patched throats, $280 million of it sourced from the outside as loan.
Wike has launched the Urban Water Reform as part of his vision to provide potable water in urban centres, and ensure food security, in a state full of fish and crude oil, the liquid gold.
According to the administration, the Port Harcourt Water Supply and Sanitation Project, will address the poor water infrastructure in the city and its suburb of Obio/Akpor Council.
It will also help solve sanitation problems in the two urban areas.
Hope raised, dashed
A lack of portable water is not just in Port Harcourt called the Garden City, it is the same tale of raised and dashed hopes in many other urban centres in Nigeria.
Experts say development is the ability of those who hold the levers of power to provide the basic needs of the people – food, shelter, water, electricity, housing, roads, education, healthcare, and security.
A sociologist at the Ministry of Education, who craved anonymity, said the penchant of politicians for white elephant projects is one of the factors that has fostered corruption in governance and public service.
Colonial era
During the colonial era, every dwelling in Port Harcourt had pipe borne water, apart from public taps. But the city has never enjoyed such luxury since the 1990s.
Rivers has one of the longest dreams and promises of drinking water provision among states in Nigeria.
Odili, Amaechi
The administration of Odili and that of his successor, Amaechi, sank billions of naira into trying to provide drinking water. All turned into a mirage.
The Odili administration in collaboration with the then Water Resources Minister, Festus Ngelale, made much political capital of suffusing the state with portable water.
A contract was signed with a South African company but it became another futile attempt to erect water pumps in cities and remote villages.
In the new administration, Information Commissioner, Magnus Abe, recently told journalists (most of whom live on premises that have endured dry taps for over 15 years) that there is water everywhere in Port Harcourt city and environs.
$280m loan logjam
Back in July 2014, the state House of Assembly approved $200 million African Development Bank (AfDB) and another $80 million from the World Bank to be used for water and sanitation projects, which would be repaid in 22 years.
Amaechi wrote a letter containing the request, dated June 23, 2014, addressed to Assembly Speaker, Daniel Amachree.
The letter read in part: “The Rivers State government has successfully obtained approval from the boards of the African Development Bank and the World Bank respectively for the Port Harcourt water supply and sanitation project.
“The purpose of the project is to provide sustainable and safe access to clean and hygienic drinking water and sanitation in the city of Port Harcourt.
“The project, which is being taken by the Federal Ministry of Finance for onward lending to Rivers State, is to enable the state government commence the project at the earliest possible time.”
The plan drew much opposition from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which accused Amaechi’s administration of harvesting funds for the 2015 election under the guise of sourcing for loan for water project.
But the then Information Commissioner, Ibim Semenitari, insisted that the loan was not new but had been on the table since 2012:
She said the state government “applied for and secured a loan package from the African Development Bank and the World Bank in 2012 for the World Bank-assisted water scheme in Rivers State.
”The rule is that the national government would need to endorse the release of the loan after the Rivers State House of Assembly would have approved.
”Everything else was done but for reasons unknown to the Rivers State government, the responsible officers in the Ministry of Finance failed to sign off the release of funds, thereby delaying the Rivers State government’s robust water sector’s complete overhaul and rejuvenation and thus denying the people of the state access to good water.”
New direction
Taking up the gauntlet, Wike launched a three-pronged Urban Water Sector Reform, Port Harcourt Water Supply Scheme, and Sanitation Project to “create women entrepreneurs, youth employment, and provide safe drinking water.”
Wike, represented at the launch by Agriculture Commissioner Onimim Jacks, said the scheme is key to the development of Rivers.
“The project is in line with our promises to the people of the state as clearly spelt out in our blueprint that we shall provide safe drinking water,” he stressed.
He commended Abuja for selecting Rivers as one of the pilot states for the Portable Water Scheme, and promised that the state government will pay its counterpart funds when due.
Wike also pledged that his administration will always collaborate with the federal government in areas that would benefit the populace.
Water Resources and Rural Development Commissioner, Ibibia O’Walter, explained that the project is part of a sector-wide institutional reform coordinated by the National Urban Sector Water Reform Office of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
He said funding will come from the AfDB ($200 million), World Bank ($80 million, and Rivers State government ($48 million).
