By Rachael Olokungboye
EKITI – A developmental expert and President of the Association Of Water Well Drilling Rig Owners Practitioners (AWDROP), Ale Micheal has tasked the Federal Government of Nigeria to collaborate with experts in water industry to provide safe drinking
water.
According to Report, Ale Michael the Co-founder, Global Initiative for Nigeria Development (GIND) while speaking on Thursday in Ado Ekiti during the commemoration of this year’s World Water Day, said Government at the local level is doing little or nothing to provide safe drinking water.
“Every March 22 is marked by United Nation to celebrate water and this year’s theme is, ‘valuing water’. World is covered by water and we have merely 3 percent as fresh water out of a total 98 percent.
He stressed further, “My organization is a business minded organization. We have human face in terms of Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR). If we look at it comparatively, we have done more than government in providing safe and clean water. We are working to complement government efforts. For instance, if we don’t have boreholes in the world, what would have happened to livelihood? Now, we are talking about children and adults, I can say we in private sector have done more than government. Despite the heavy cost, we are able to give safe and clean water to our clients at subsidized cost to provide safe and clean water.
“We have a situation where the Federal Government has helped the Road transport owners and workers with their vehicles, also with good roads and motor parks, the market women with shops and beautiful markets, and so on and so forth. But when it comes to our industry, nothing has been done to assist Practitioners. Moreso, the only program earmarked for our sector, has been scrapped by some unscrupulous individuals in government. This is really bad.
I don’t see where Government is collaborating, instead we are subsidizing to provide these facilities and provide water for the people. People don’t even want to dig well again because the cost is almost equivalent to digging borehole.
“In rural areas, we don’t have water resources and we don’t know which of the 36 state governors is ready to collaborate with us even including the state we are in, Oyo State.” He added
The president while Speaking, on the lack of regulation as a major challenge, said, “ I don’t want to be sentimental about this, but I want to say unequivocally that water should be treated as a business. African Development Bank current President, Akinwunmi Adesina, during his tenure as the Minister for Agriculture in Nigeria, emphasized the business face of Agriculture and a department was created where giving Agriculture input for free was stopped. Same way to value water, water must be treated as a business. We have the Asejiri dam in Oyo State, what is the percentage of water coming from there for Ibadan people. Why must we depend solely on them alone? Why drillings are not regulated? These are areas calling for concern.
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