- N200bn projects abandoned nationwide – Investigation
- Handlers received full payment, insiders allege
- Stakeholders demand probe of ministry
As the year runs to an end, experts on water resources and healthcare delivery have opened a Pandora’s box, revealing that a sum of N200 billion had been spent on moribund water projects across the country, with Nigerians not having access to potable water.
Investigations by our correspondent also revealed that Nigeria had spent N314.4billion between 2013 and 2017 to provide water for about 180 million Nigerians, yet, over 100 million citizens still lack access to it.
Industry experts have, as a result, urged the Federal Government to institute a probe of the humongous votes and then declare a state of emergency in the ailing sector.
According to them, the situation, if not urgently tackled, could spike the gale of water-borne diseases in some states of the federation, and also encourage more corrupt practices.
Investigations also showed that less than 35 per cent of the job had been done since 2011, when the deal was signed. The project, which was to be completed within 36 months, was expected to provide a 130-million cubic meter reservoir and a 3.3 KV hydro-power plant for effective water supply upon completion
ABANDONED PROJECTS FULLY PAID FOR
Meanwhile, findings have revealed that, currently, only seven per cent of the urban areas have access to potable water supply.
While the water resources ministry claimed to have spent over N70 million on the construction of the Oturkpo Multipurpose Dam, it also expended over N90 million on the Kashimbilla Dam. A sum of N70 million was spent on Jare Earth Dam; N70 million on Galma Dam; and N40 million on Owiwi Irrigation project, among others.
The Point’s investigations revealed that many of the projects were abandoned after the handlers had allegedly received full payment.
For instance, SCC Nigeria Limited, handlers of the N17.1 billion Oturkpo Multipurpose Dam Project in Benue State, allegedly abandoned work after receiving full payment.
Investigations also showed that less than 35 per cent of the job had been done since 2011, when the deal was signed.
The project, which was to be completed within 36 months, was expected to provide a 130-million cubic meter reservoir and a 3.3 KV hydro-power plant for effective water supply upon completion.
A source close to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission told The Point that the firm was considering a careful review of the contract to provide potable water supply and electricity to the immediate community.
He said, “In the initial contract agreement, hydropower, potable water supply, irrigation and the construction of the dam were included in the project. But hydropower and water supply have been removed from the specification, yet the handlers are asking for additional N32 billion in a review.
“For such a massive review to be done, what is already on the ground should justify the money earlier collected. Our major concern is that government should get the value for money spent on projects across the country. We do not seem to have such value from this particular job.”
Findings also revealed that SCC had already requested a contract review to N49 billion “to overcome technical issues”. The N32 billion increment, it was learnt, became necessary because the cost of items had gone up.
Aside from the fund expended on the aforementioned dams, which impeccable sources disclosed had been abandoned, The Point also found that several water-dam projects awarded by the Federal Government had been abandoned several years after they were re-awarded.
Investigations revealed that in Plateau State, the multi-billion naira Mangu Regional Water Dam project, which was awarded by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration in 2000, had since been abandoned after it was re-awarded at the cost of N5.6billion in 2014.
Also, in March 2013, efforts by former President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure residents in Markurdi, Benue State, had access to potable water became futile as the $42 million project, which he commissioned in 2012, with a 50,000 cubic metres daily capacity, ended in a scandal as some officials of the ministry allegedly failed to account for $6million.
Confirming the scam that rocked the water projects in the state, Governor Samuel Ortom disclosed, last June, that the financial impropriety allegedly perpetrated by the administration of his predecessor, Mr. Gabriel Suswam, made it difficult for him to accelerate the payment of civil servants’ salaries.
Findings revealed that the former governor floated a N4.96 billion bond to fund eight ongoing and new projects, a few days to the end of his tenure. The rehabilitation and upgrading of water works at Makurdi, Otukpo and Katsina-Ala, which have been abandoned, were part of the projects he was supposed to use the funds for.
Today, the residents in the state, who wake up to see the expansive River Benue daily, lack access to potable water as they are forced to patronise water tankers.
A civil servant in the state, Mr. Joseph Mark, lamented that he had been compelled to fetch water from the Otukpo waterworks, at least, twice a week.
According to him, the Federal Government, some state governors and other officials of the ministry diverted the fund meant for the completion of the water projects across the country.
“I come here when I am free because the water scarcity is hitting us hard. The major problem we have is electricity. When there is electricity and water is pumped, it gets to my house, which is not too far from here, but as politicians have failed us, we are back to nothing,” he said.
Similarly, the six water dam projects across Adamawa State, which cost both the FG and the state several billions of naira, have allegedly been abandoned.
A source in the state Ministry of Water Resources told The Point that “the dam projects were awarded by past administrations at both the state and Federal levels across the three senatorial zones with no hope of recovering the huge public fund wasted on them.”
But instead of reviving the abandoned projects, the state government approved N300 million for the construction of another earth dam in Nasarawa, Demsa Local Government Area of the state. This action has continued to generate criticisms against the government as the citizens argue that it is another way of wasting scarce public funds on a white elephant.
Ondo State also has its own share of abandoned water projects as the N14billion Owena Dam project in Igbaraoke, which was awarded during the late former Governor Olusegun Agagu-led administration, was allegedly neglected by his successor, former governor Olusegun Mimiko, after N7billion had already been spent on the project.
A lawmaker representing Akure South/North in the House of Representatives, Mr. Afe Olowookere, blamed the Mimiko-led administration for the state of the project.
According to him, the immediate past government in the state unnecessarily delayed the completion of the water dam for eight years.
“The project had reached 70 per cent completion level, two years into Mimiko’s government, before it was abandoned. Since the dam was constructed by the Federal Government, the water treatment plants have been constructed, thus remaining the delivery through reticulation by the state government to towns and villages in Ifedore, Akure South and North; Idanre and Ondo in the Central Senatorial District. But that never happened,” Olowookere said.
EXPERTS DEMAND PROBE OF MINISTRY
However, experts have described the poor water system amid monstrous allocations as unacceptable and have called for a probe of the Ministry of Water Resources.
Notable professor of Paediatrics, John Okoye, in his assessment, said it was all a shame of a nation that after years of huge votes into major water schemes, not much had been achieved, stressing that an urgent probe and punishment of perpetrators could no longer be delayed.
He noted that, currently, “there is a crisis in the country as the government at all levels had failed in their responsibilities to address, with all seriousness, the acute shortage of potable water.”
Okoye added, “There are stories of outbreak of diarrhoea and dysentery all over the place, because of poor water supply. But apart from the two, there are so many other diseases that are related to lack of hygienic water that Nigerians are suffering from.
“The country has to take this situation seriously and work towards giving Nigerian children and adults better access to safe water. In most cases, adults transmit the diseases to their children. Sometimes, when the cases of water-related diseases come, the victims develop other problems like malnutrition, stunted growth and so many other problems.”
Lamenting the situation too, the Country Director of WaterAid Nigeria, Dr. Michael Ojo, said that to have frittered away resources meant for water provision was as good as decimating the population growth of Nigeria.
As things stand, however, Ojo said for the country to meet up with the Sustainable Development Goal concerning water for all by 2030, the largest black nation had to invest $1.3billion in more water projects.
According to him, the Nigerian government can also do better than allocating less than one per cent of its annual budget to water.
“It represents a paltry sum of what is required to increase access to water, sanitation and hygiene services in the country. Most stakeholders in the sector are of the opinion that to move the sector forward, there is the need to increase recurrent expenditure,” he said.
‘PROBLEM CAUSED BY LACK OF FOCUS’
Only last week, the Federal Government unveiled a 12-month emergency plan to improve water supply and sanitation across the nation, with the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, disclosing that the country required about N1.9trillion to provide potable water supply and sanitation in the next 15 years.
Other experts have, however, blamed the neglect of the projects on the lack of focus by the initiators of such projects.
A former lecturer at the University of Lagos, Prof. Ayo Oni, explained that the neglect of water projects all over the country had to do with the focus of the project idea and intention of the people that conceived the idea.
He said, “The resources that are made available are often not fully disbursed. Projects are frequently handled through the top-down approach without the participation of the grassroots populace needed for sustainability.
“Some politicians fail to agree on the tariff structures needed to underpin the financial autonomy of urban utilities; they selfishly intervene in the allocation of rural projects creating inequity in access to service and improper citing that may result in the possible failure of such projects.”
MINISTRY REACTS
But the Director of Press and Public Relations in the ministry, Ms. Margaret Umoh, assured Nigerians that the ministry would not embark on any new water project until all the abandoned ones across the country had been completed.
According to her, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Musa Ibrahim, recently confirmed that many projects embarked upon over a decade ago by the previous administrations, had all been abandoned.
Umoh said, “The minister had said that instead of starting new projects as usual, he would concentrate on completing the abandoned ones.
“The ministry has completed and handed over the Otueke Water Plant in Bayelsa State to the state government as well as various dams almost at the completion stage.”
