Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has flagged off the rehabilitation of two water schemes in the State, namely the Ubakala Water scheme in Umuahia South Local Government Area and Ariaria water scheme in Osisioma Local Government Area of the state.
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- +…Flags off rehabilitation of Ubakala, Ariaria water schemes
Flagging-off the two water schemes at Ubakala, Umuahia South Local Government, as part of activities marking the third anniversary of his administration, Governor Alex Otti thanked the Mercy Corps for the assistance extended to Abia State.
…Flags off rehabilitation of Ubakala, Ariaria water schemes
Flagging-off the two water schemes at Ubakala, Umuahia South Local Government, as part of activities marking the third anniversary of his administration, Governor Alex Otti thanked the Mercy Corps for the assistance extended to Abia State.
Governor Otti said that by the flagging-off of the Ubakala Water Scheme, the Ariaria Water Scheme is equally flagged-off and two of them would be commissioned at the same time.
“I want to thank them for this support and their resilience. ₦1.3billion is a lot of money and we cannot take it for granted.
“We are going to flag-off this project and as we flag it off, we will assume that we have flagged-off the two projects. So, when we return here again, it will be for commissioning the water scheme,” he said.
The Abia State Governor described water as critical to life, hence, his administration’s decision to take it as a critical project.
“Water is so critical to life and a lot of people have passed on, because of unsafe water,”
He disclosed that the Aba regional water project has reached 95percent completion and informed the people that the project flagged-off is an additional boost to the Ariaria regional water scheme.
Ikechukwu Monday, commissioner for Power and Public Utilities, while appreciating the governor for his determination to provide safe water for the people, said that the water project aligns with the objectives of the Abia Integrated WASH Accelerated Programme earlier launched by Governor Otti.
Monday explained that the project flag-off was postponed severally, due to some unavoidable circumstances.
According to Monday, “The first time, we had a date, officials of our new financiers, were kidnapped somewhere in Anambra State on their way to Abia. Recall also that this project was initially financed, by USAID, through the Mercy Corps.
“The second postponement, was in January last year after President Donald Trump of the United States of America took over and you know what happened to USAID. All the aids were withdrawn.
“Since then, Governor Otti, has provided leadership and through the support of Mercy Corps. Last year, we got a private financier, who has accepted to finance this project.
The commissioner said that as the flag-off is done, it goes beyond rehabilitation of water project.
“As we break the grounds of this project, we are not only rehabilitating the water project, but we are restoring the dignity of our people.
“And this is what the government of Governor Alex Otti stands for,” Monday stated.
Rabiu Sani, representative of the Country Director, explained that the Mercy Corps is a humanitarian organisation, existing in over 40 countries and part of their interventions has touched lives across the 6 geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
He said, “We want to improve livelihood and then we also want to ensure that our projects are sustainable.
“It is over 10 years that we’ve been in the country and I can say that Mercy Corps has touched virtually all the geographical zones in in the country.”
He said that the scope of the work includes, rehabilitation of the existing boreholes, testing existing pumps and rehabilitating some of the pumps and deployment of 580 watts of solar power system.
“So, together these two projects represent a combined investment of at least ₦1.3 billion, courtesy of Mercy Corps in partnership with Abia State Government.
“So, our three impacts are clear. We want to improve public health. We want to reduce dependence on unsafe water. We want to support homes, markets with infrastructure to restore confidence in public delivery.
“We also value community ownership, because it’s not just enough to do this project and we go. Part of the things we’ll be doing before the commissioning is to train a community and build a technical team, who will be handling this system. So, this is what we have,” he stated.
While appreciating the Governor and the Ministry of Power and Public Utilities under Ikechukwu Monday, the Country Director saluted the Governor for his commitment and assured that
they would continue to work closely with the State government.
