Benue Needs N15B To Reticulate Water In Makurdi, Says Commissioner.

Seven months into the administration of Dr. Samuel Ortom in Benue state and already, residents of Katsina-Ala and Otukpo are feeling the government’s presence. The taps now run in these areas. In this interview with a select group of journalists, including Austine Tule in Makurdi, the Commissioner for Water Resources and Environment, Engr. Nick Wende, however reveals that the Ortom Administration would need N15 billion to reticulate water in Makurdi, the state capital. Excerpts:

The State government just held a retreat for new appointees. What did you come out of it with as a way for­ward for your ministry?

The retreat was all about good governance and it equipped every­one with the governor’s vision and goals for good governance. Basically, it gave us a way forward. Now I have a new dimension for my ministry. It taught us how to use the early morn­ing hours of the day. In the past, gov­ernment officials took this for grant­ed but with the retreat, we learnt a lot.

Following torrential rain falls re­cently, many areas are flooded and there are reports in the media that the Ladgo Dam in Cameroun will be opened soon. What are government’s plans to mitigate the effects of flood in the state?

There are a lot of plans. Given our experiences in the 2012 flood epi­sode, we didn’t want to take chances. So when the news came, we quickly responded by carrying out enlighten­ment campaigns through electronic and social media using all languages in the state. We have also prepared an IDP camp along Daudu in Guma Lo­cal Government Area in case we have displaced people should the flood hit.

How are people responding to the campaign to leave the riverbanks? Are they taking you serious especially that they experienced this in the past.

Initially they were taking it for granted but it is very obvious that the water level is increasing every day. It is either from the Ladgo Dam or the persistent rain falls and they are see­ing it. If you check out communities along Gboko road in Makurdi, you will notice that people have started moving out.

Benue state is an agrarian state and residents need a lot of water to work with. Looking at water distri­bution in the state, pipe borne water to be precise, when are the people go­ing to see a difference from the past?

I want to appreciate this adminis­tration because we are only 100-plus days in office but there is proper water distribution in Katsina Ala and Otuk­po. We started in Katsina Ala because the pipes have been there a long time, and when we started, there were leak­ages but they have been fixed. Where we have a basic problem is with the Makurdi Water Works. We have just the treatment plant ready. We have a reticulation problem and the cost of carrying that out is quite high but this government, through my ministry, intends to solve that problem before the tenure expire. We have thought of so many alternative means of han­dling this and sooner or later, there will be water in Makurdi.

Most waterways and rivers in the state have silted up and drainages around town are observably blocked with refuse. What is government do­ing in this regard to allow for free flow of water and in the long term prevent flooding?
When we got a notice of the flood from Cameroon and a torrential rain fall for two days which flooded parts of Makurdi, I and my team went out to find out why the flooding took place and we identified similar problems that you just mentioned; blockages of the drainages, construction on flood plains and refuse dumps in drainages and all manner of things. So we have drawn up a report. And recently, the governor constituted a committee on flood; the “The Flood Management Committee”, with me, Commission­ers for Works, Women Affairs, SEMA and others as members. We also have a tactical sub-committee. Their duty is to go round local government ar­eas to identify similar problems and it costs a lot of money to identify these problems and carry out demolitions, maintenance work and then opening up of drainages. But we have gotten some persons who will commence opening up of blocked drainages by next week. Opening up of drainages will start next week in southern and Northern parts of Makurdi.

Statistics are important when talk­ing about finance, how much is it costing government to deal with all these issues?

For the temporary drainage block­age collapse not including the demo­litions, we have a proposal for about N40 million. It is high for the govern­ment but we are starting all the same. In terms of statistics, those who are affected are many. Out of a 100 per­cent of houses built on drainages, 85 percent of them are by private devel­opers and out this 85 percent, about 70 have the titles to these lands. How they got titles to these illegal develop­ments is what we are trying to find out. And when somebody has a title, you can’t just go demolishing. We are trying to sort it out but eventually we may revoke those allocations and then go into demolition too.

A lot of people resorting to bore­holes to provide their own water needs. In the long term, what do you envisage will happen to the water level and is there any negative effect you think will arise from this action?

Usually, when you have so many boreholes in one area, scientifically they say that area is prone to natural disasters like earthquake and the rest. But I know that the issue of drilling more boreholes within the urban areas will be a thing of the past very soon. Like I said, we have worked hard and sent out machinery in try­ing to provide pipeborne water for the Makurdi environ. The plan is in top gear and will soon be ready.

We are also looking at the exist­ing reticulation network. We have noticed that some pipes have been blocked, some are old, and some have been destroyed because of road construction etc. So if we cannot im­mediately go into a new reticulation network, which will cost over N15 billion, we can as well use that as a remedy and then just extend to the new layouts. The town has grown be­yond the initial reticulation and that might give Makurdi 85 percent water distribution; that is as an alternative where we can’t afford the N15 billion budgets.

One other thing that comes of this individual sourcing of water is hav­ing people who are sell packaged water, we know the bags are also an environmental nuisance. How are you dealing with these producers to ensure proper disposal of these packages?
We had a strong presentation on the issue of waste management last week and we are trying to come up with a system where waste will be managed differently from the tradi­tional style of waste management in Makurdi. It is going to be very im­pressive. Lagos is one place I never believed would be clean but I as­sure you that Makurdi is going to be cleaner than Lagos. We want ev­erybody that produces water in this town to register so that we will be able to monitor and then put some other checks in place.

Culled from The Authority.