…project funded with IGR
November 25, 2023 marked 180 days of Peter Mbah in the leadership of Enugu State.
Before Mbah’s emergence as governor, residents of Enugu metropolis had been suffering from acute water supply challenge, leaving them at the mercy of water tanker vendors.
Mbah made a promise of solving the water challenge during his campaign, setting a time frame of 180 days in office.
The promise generated a lot of doubts and arguments, considering the over 30 years the residents have not seen public taps running in the metropolis. The perennial water scarcity jinx was eventually broken on November 25 2023, when the public were invited to the 9th Mile Corner for the inauguration of 9th Mile 24/7 Water Scheme, one of the Enugu State up-stream water schemes with 70 million litres of water daily capacity.
The governor did not only inaugurate the scheme, but also ensured that power supply does not create any problem for the up-stream project. Despite an existing sub-station, the governor built an independent 4.4 megawatts gas plant to power the scheme.
In his address at the inauguration, Mbah pointed out that the Oji-River Water Scheme will, in no distance time, be inaugurated with additional 50 litres of daily water supply, making it 120 milliom litres of water daily production above the estimated 100 litres of water consumption of Enugu residents, including new areas.
The 9th Mile Corner scheme complements the Oji-River and Ajali water schemes.
The government has also constructed 96 water galleries at various locations, in schools and densely populated areas.
He also advised landlords to contact Water Cooperation to get their house connected with water. The water project, according to the governor, was funded by state government internally generated revenue (IGR). He called on the people to guide the projects jealousy, as he warned that anybody caught trying to vandalie them will face the law squarely.
Regretting the dire water challenges faced by Enugu residents before now, he said availability of potable water was consequential to his administration’s vision to raise the state’s economy from $.4.4 billion to $30 billion GDP in four to eight years.
“It was clear to us, that the status of water supply at the time was deplorable. At that time, there had been no reliable water supply in most parts of Enugu State for almost 20 years.
“One need not be a rocket scientist to discern that few investors will be attracted to the state under such dire circumstances, nor can existing businesses expand to generate additional jobs and economic growth. If anything, these conditions are suffocating businesses and households and leading to unnecessary suffering across the State.
“Faced with this fundamental issue, and considering the suffering of Ndi Enugu, it was only natural that we identified provision of water as one of our first targets in the drive to execute our mandate and social contract with citizens of Enugu.
“We also chose to give ourselves a target of resolving this challenge in 180 days not for the purpose of chest-thumping but rather because first, the issue is urgent. We did not want Ndi Enugu to suffer unduly for even one minute longer than avoidable, and, second, we saw this as an opportunity to galvanize Ndi Enugu for the tough tasks ahead and whip our administration into gear as quickly as possible,” he said.
Recalling that the promise to provide potable water within the timeline of 180 days “triggered disbelief in most quarters and that is perhaps understandable, realising the countless successive, but fruitless attempts to address the problem.
“Happily, for us all, here we are, 180 days from that promise, commissioning this new ultra-modern water scheme with a capacity to deliver to businesses and families in Enugu 70 million litres of potable water daily and this is but the first phase. In a few weeks, we will also be commissioning new pumps in Oji water scheme to enable us to deliver another 50 million litres of water everyday. This will give us a total daily delivery of 120 million litres in Enugu, about twice the daily demand of Enugu urban.
“We are currently supplying water at appreciable pressures to Enugu municipality and I can state here and now that pipe-borne water is here to stay,” Mbah said.
While acknowledging some challenges in the downstream part of the water supply, he stressed: “Of course, there are instances of burst pipes around the metropolis, but this was not unexpected, given the age of a number of our lines. However, these constitute but teething problems which we will surely surmount in a matter of weeks and constant water 365 days of the year will once again be a reality in Enugu.”
The governor equally assured that effort would be intensified to extend pipe-borne water to a number of major residential areas, which developed since the last major pipe-laying projects in Enugu.
He however, said: “Reliable water supply is not cheap! But I promise that this water will be far less expensive than what you are spending today on water tanker supply. We must be willing to pay for connection to the meters, which will be installed in our homes and businesses, and pay a fair monthly rate for the water we consume.
“Second, the infrastructure that we have put in place, from this scheme here to the pipes going into our various residential areas, belong to Ndi Enugu and must be optimised. We cannot afford for them to be vandalised or stolen! Therefore, we must consider it our duty to look after this infrastructure.”
The governor was described by some residents as ‘EKwu Eme’, for fulfilling his promise.
The president general of Nsude Community, who gave a short history of the water scheme, because it is located in their land, said that the land was taken over 41 years ago by the state during the time of Jim Nwobodo, a former governor, and many governors both civilian and military, for that number of years could not do what the governor has just done in his 180 days.
Speaking during one of the governor’s stops to inspect some reconnected institutions and commissioning of some of the 96 water galleries constructed around the city, Radiance Kamah, senior prefect of the Godfrey Okoye University Secondary School, expressed the joy and appreciation of the students to the governor. He said, “Not long ago, you came into this state, you started improving Enugu and I am very sure that by next year, we will be ranking the first best state in Nigeria.”
