A YEARNING FOR DRINKING WATER IN LOKOJA by Usman Okai Austin

 
Lokoja,State Capital Groans Under Acute Water Shortages
As Commercial Water Vendors Takes Over The Streets,Group Kicks
For one month now,they have been erratic and acute portable water scarcity in lokoja and it’s environs, as the worst hit,are the residences of GRA,were the hitherto unpatronised water vendors now found as abodes of making brisk business
They have not been any official statement from government circle, to the decision of the state water board to abandon their statutory functions of pumping water from the great lokoja water works,rather than routine maintenance
Kogi Renaissance Group(KRG),has described as sad, the additional burden been inflicted on the people whose basic salaries and pensions were not paid, compounded with lack of portable water, the health hazards and the means to patronize water vendors
A statement issued by Mallam Aminu Musa sated that this situation was a sharp departure, to what was obtainable during the two previous administration of Ibrahim Idris and Capt Wada
Investigations revealed that kogi governor, Yahaya Bello cancelled the maintenance contract of the previous engineers,to usher in his interest, under the guise of high charges and bills from the previous company, that had maintained the water project, without hitch in the last one decade,only to engage mushroom and inexperienced companies to run a routine and major maintenance
Civil servants and residents of lokoja and it’s environs, have resorted to drawing from the lokoja river for domestic and other purposes, that will likely pose a serious hazard to their health and endanger their well being owing to untreated status of the water from the river
There is no end in sight soon, as the state government is believed to be broke and can not meet its obligations interms of salaries,pension and infrastructural development to the people of the state
The salary payment had risen to an alarming stage, that staffers of the immediate top government officials in kogi, were not exempted from the harsh economic situation of the state and with the removal of food subsidy to immediate personnel attached to the government house and residence of the governor
Aminu warned on the consequences of the ongoing growing decadence of social services in the state, particularly water, that is essential to human existence and development
Another angle confirmed the state government unattended financial obligation, to the companies engaged in the maintenance of the near moribund greater lokoja water works ,hence the persistence water scarcity
With commercial water vendors who were hitherto sent packing out of lokoja, during the two previous administration gradually resettling back to their business,the ugly trend of kogi government attending to the water problem of lokoja soon is not in sight ,and may take a magic to bring to bear problem of perennial water shortage to a halt in the state
Residents of lokoja had embarked on prayers for early rain, to enable them get over the endless water scarcity orchestrated by the lackaidaiscal attitude of the state government to the problems of poor water reticulation and distribution in the state