Stakeholders in water management have been challenged to define a sustainable policy that would give Nigerians access to drinkable water.
This was the submission of various speakers at an event organised by Osun State government in partnership with Association of Water Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners (AWDROP) to commemorate this year’s World Water Day in Osogbo, on Friday.
The United Nations general assembly has declared March 22 of every year as World Water Day which was set aside for the implementation of United Nation’s recommendation and promotion of concrete activities within members of the states as regard water resources.
Speaking on the theme of this year celebration, ‘Water and energy’, the President, AWDROP, Mr Micheal Ale, said energy generation and transmission required optimal utilisation of water resources.
Ale, who called on the government to give necessary priority to provision of water, noted that water was key to life, energy service as well as economic survival of the nation.
He urged government to focus on rural communities to give them access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, noting that the gesture would go a long way in improving standard of living of rural dwellers.
Another speaker on the occasion, Bola Ogunjinmi, who maintained that water was crucial to all sources of energy, advocated effective management of water resources.
Ogunjimi emphasised the need for government to make water resources available for human consumption and domestic purposes,submitting that water was germane to agricultural production.
Ogunjimi further used the medium to commend the Osun State government for providing drinkable water for the people of the state.
In his remarks, the state Special Adviser to the state governor on Water Resources, Rural Development and Community Affairs, who represented the governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, Mr Kunle Ige said the government had provided over 2000 motorised boreholes for rural communities as part of efforts to enhance their living standard.
He hinted that the present administration in the state was committed to rural development through provision of basic amenities like water, electricity and health facilities among others.
TRIBUNE
Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday said that no governor in the history of the state had empowered the people more than the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola.In a statement issued in Osogbo by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, APC said allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Aregbesola’s administration had not done enough to empower the people should be ignored.
But the PDP said Osun people were the ones complaining and not APC.
The PDP said if the ruling party had done enough to empower the people, it would not have demonstrated aggressiveness to campaign to the same people.
Speaking through its Director of Media and Publicity, Prince Diran Odeyemi, PDP said the accusation that it was spreading rumour about Aregbesola was “a sign that the current administration is panicking about the fate that await it on August 9 when people of the state will speak with their votes.”
The APC, however, claimed that Aregbesola had not only stopped fraudulent access to public funds which the party claimed was hallmark of PDP administration, it added that since Osun was created, no governor had done as much as Aregbesola to empower citizens legitimately.
The APC said: “People in their thousands are now engaging in business profitably like they never did since 2003. This has resulted in increased banking activities, which was acknowledged recently by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) manager.
“When the question of empowerment is raised in Nigeria today, Aregbesola occupies prime position because his administration’s programmes were designed to empower the people and are now being replicated throughout the country.
