NAN-AE-1
Water
By Yunusa Ishola
Omu-Aran (Kwara), March 10, 2017 (NAN) Omu-Aran Development Association (ODA) on Monday decried the perennial water supply problems facing the residents of Omu-Aran, a community in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara.
Chief Bisi Adeyemi, the association’s President told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Omu-Aran that the protracted water scarcity in the community had inflicted untold hardship on the residents.
He attributed the problem to the prolonged neglect of the water dam serving the community and its environs.
Adeyemi, who assumed the leadership of the association about three months ago, said that the association would strive to tackle the water supply problems in the community.
According to him, the dam, which was constructed over 30 years ago, now has obsolete equipment that has not undergone proper maintenance over a long period of time.
He said that the association, through its committee on utility, had visited the dam for an on-the-spot assessment of its facilities, adding that it would cost about N5 million to revive the dam.
He disclosed that the association had duly informed the state Ministry of Water Resources on the development.
Adeyemi, however, commended the youth of the community for their steadfastness and dedication in efforts to end the menace of water scarcity in the community.
“Our plan is to get the job executed through direct labour in order to reduce the cost to a barest minimum.
“I am using this opportunity to assure the people that the association is doing its best to ensure that the water problems become a thing of the past,” he said.
In a remark, Mr Sola Ogunniyi, the Supervisor-in-Charge of Omu-Aran Waterworks, said that the facility was already due for major rehabilitation and maintenance.
“The flushing of the dam has been stalled in the last 10 years due to inadequate finance and obsolete equipment.
“We are only managing the equipment to pump water at a very low capacity.
“We hope that the proposed communal effort, through ODA, will soon facilitate efforts to restore hitch-free water supply to the neighbourhood,’’ he added. (NAN)
ISHO/MNA/OOK
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Edited by Maureen Atuonwu and Dayo Komolafe