Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin
Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority (LNRBDA) has constructed 1,130 boreholes and 29 water works in Kwara and Kogi States in the last seven years.
The agency is a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
The Managing Director of LNRBDA, Dr Adeniyi Saheed Aremu, who spoke at the 42nd Media Parliament of the Kwara State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Ilorin, the state capital, said the intervention was carried out because the two states were within the coverage of the authority.
The event was themed “Ending Perennial Acute Water Shortage in Our Society”.
Aremu, who said the federal government would construct more dams across the country for adequate supply of potable water and irrigation purposes, added that the resolve to build additional water dams was in line with the deliverables and priorities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration.
He noted that the water facilities, when constructed, would be made available for different usage of the people as enunciated in the key performance index of the present government.
“As part of the presidential deliverables and priorities of this present government, we have it as our focus to construct as many dams as possible, and to have irrigation facilities so that water will be available for several usage. And that is one of the key performance index, which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has rolled out.
“So, everywhere, we try as much as possible to get water available. Where we cannot have hand pump, we try to have solar or motorized boreholes. In fact, we have even changed our tanks to plastic tanks for longevity of usage”, the Managing Director of LNRBDA said.
Explaining that the authority under his watch has rehabilitated a number of water works to assist the state governments, Aremu noted that the raw water in Asa-Dam can serve residents of Ilorin.
He added that the authority had opted to provide solar system alongside new water facilities it built in communities to mitigate the effects of inability of residents to afford diesel or petrol to power their generators for water supply.
Aremu said, “Now, we are moving into using solar. As long as there is sun, water will keep pumping. That is the innovative project we have now. So, we want to solarise our system. As long as there is sunlight, water will come out”.
The Managing Director of LNRBDA, who attributed the frequency of water shortage to population explosion, informed that his agency would embark on mini-water treatment for communities in place of large dams that often take time to complete.
In his remarks, the state Chairman of NUJ, Abdullateef ‘Lanre Ahmed, bemoaned the difficulties people experience daily in search of potable water, adding that many of them trek long distances before they could have access to clean and safe water.
Ahmed urged the government to expedite action on the ongoing construction of dams for sufficient water supply and to address the effects of acute shortage.
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