By Shina Abubakar
THE Osun State government and a coalition of civil society organisations in the state, yesterday, disagreed over the functionality of the 332 boreholes sunk across the state.
While the CSOs urged Governor Ademola Adeleke to investigate the functionality of the boreholes, the governor’s spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, described the allegations that the borehole project is a failure as partisan.
Governor Adeleke had embarked on the construction of boreholes in the 332 wards across the state in celebration of his administration’s 100 days in office.
However, the coalition, under the aegis of The Osun Masterminds, TOM, at a press briefing in Osogbo, said the majority of the boreholes have not been turning out water for the people targeted to benefit from the project.
The group’s Executive Director, Professor Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, said: “As responsible citizens who are equal stakeholders in the Osun project, we visited numerous locations of these boreholes and discovered that, although the government has informed the State’s people through several press releases and interviews that the boreholes were now completed and in service, majority of the boreholes are still not functional.
“We visited several wards across the State and interacted with many locals in those areas visited. Our findings revealed that upon completion of most, if not all of the boreholes, they did not work beyond the day the installed pumping machines were tested.
“In some cases, no provision was made for electrical connection that will power the boreholes, while in some cases poor arrangements that cannot serve a long-term purpose were made. We also found that a lot of the boreholes had truly been completed way before the Holy month of Ramadan commenced, but are still not in service to this present day.”
Government, through its relevant offices, get to action immediately, to ensure that the boreholes our State spent on, are made functional for the people of the State. They cannot just stand as decorations scattered around the corners of the State, they have to serve the purpose for which they were built”.
Projects yet to be commissioned—Adeleke’s spokesperson
But in a swift reaction, the governor’s spokesperson explained that though the project was awarded in compliance with due process, the project is successful on many ways.
He said: “In specific terms, the government dispels in strong terms insinuations in some partisan quarters that the borehole water project has failed. The project is successful in many ways as the government is in the process of purchasing generating sets to power them. Pending the completion of the powering process and the official commissioning, many communities are making use of the facilities to meet their water needs.
“A 30 local government survey plus the area office would show that contrary to reports, the water project has not failed and a check with the relevant government offices would have corrected the misinformation being peddled around. As of today, our people at the local level are enjoying these boreholes even before it was fully commissioned.
“If interested stakeholders are also conscious of the earlier announcement that full details of state income and expenditure will be unveiled at the Ipade Imole holding in late June, there won’t be any need to rush to judgement and consequent false assumptions and unfounded allegations of failed projects.”
Source: Vanguard