From Priscilla Ediare Ado-Ekiti
The Ekiti Government has taken delivery of 110 solar-powered pumps and accessories for the construction of another set of 110 WASH facilities across the 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 22 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state.
This is to further guarantee adequate provision of potable water, sanitation and hygiene to residents of the state.
Prof. Mobolaji Aluko, the State’s Commissioner for Infrastructure and Public Utilities, made this known on Friday, in Ado-Ekiti, the capital of the state.
He explained that the project is being executed under the World Bank-backed program for Result arrangement, the Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (SURWASH) Program, which aims to improve access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services, particularly in underserved communities of benefitting states.
Aluko stressed that the idea of buying the pumps in bulk was to save cost and ensure standardisation of pump quality and after-installation servicing.
He said, “The broader project is our SURWASH program, and part of what we have been doing in the past two years is actually to ensure access to water and sanitation in urban and rural areas.
“We have been constructing boreholes, sanitation and toilet facilities in schools, health centres and communities over the past two years with 121 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities rehabilitated and 64 solar-powered boreholes constructed.
“The current instalment is 110 WASH facilities consisting of anchored-in solar-powered boreholes to be located in 55 schools and 55 health centres across the State, with each LGA and LCDA getting two units, additional two units for each LGA and an extra two for Ado LGA.
“We are also working on finding lasting solution to the issue of electricity supply for our dams and emphasis now is on providing two things, dedicated lines to lead to the dams as well as dedicated power, whether it is gas power, solar power and even in some cases small hydro power dedicated to the dams is enough to pump water to where needed.”
“Electricity for residential or commercial has far less requirements than for dams because the dam requires heavy pumps, that’s why we need dedicated independent power for our dams, and for agricultural irrigation purposes around the dams.
“The focus now is to get power solutions that will ensure we get potable water. We have four dams, a dam at Ero, Egbe, Ureje and Itapaji, as well as the fifth one at Ogbese, which is Federal Government owned, that is multipurpose, but essentially hydro that is currently being worked upon”, he stated.
Assuring that the State Government would not relent efforts at ensuring provision of basic amenities to people in the State, Prof. Aluko, however, stressed the need for communities to take control over public facilities in their respective areas, emphasizing that taking control over public facilities through increased engagement, ownership, and accountability, ultimately result in improved service delivery, proper maintenance and sustainability.