Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has raised the alarm over indiscriminate water borehole drillings in homes, declaring that repercussions of such could be devastating.
He lamented that the incessant construction of boreholes, particularly in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, was a result of the failure of subsequent administrations to sustain the Oyan Dam project built by his military administration in 1977.
The former President, according to a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, on Sunday, gave the warning when the management and staff of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority, led by the Managing Director, Dr Adedeji Ashiru, visited him.
The visit was to mark the occasion of the World Water Day.
Obasanjo called for the elimination of waste of water resources, stressing that it would be impossible to achieve food sufficiency and security without effective water management.
He hinted that due to the failure of the Oyan Dam project, residents of Abeokuta had resorted to drilling boreholes everywhere to source water.
However, he warned that the development comes with repercussions, the extent of which remains uncertain.
“We cannot deemphasise the importance or usefulness of water to human life and that is why we do say water has no enemy.
“This was why as military head of state in 1977, I realised that strategic water management must be part of our food sufficiency drives and food security and we created 11 river basins, including Lake Chad,” he said.
The former president said all the river basins had irrigation facilities, to ensure all-year-round farming.”
Obasanjo said the Oyan Dam was created to generate power and water for residents of Ogun and Lagos states.
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He lamented that 48 years later, the dam had not lived up to the reasons for its construction.
He regretted that the dam, which could generate 9MW of electricity, laid idle, adding that if active, it would have a profound impact in boosting the power supply to the people and help reduce the challenge of inadequate power supply in the country.
“Oyan Dam was built to supply water for Abeokuta and Lagos but it has been neglected and ignored, just like the turbine for the power supply.
“The water supply is not there for Abeokuta and we have rather continued to dig holes everywhere causing the water level to go down and down, which will have repercussions in the future.
“How long that will take is what I don’t know but the geologist can do their job and tell us how fast that repercussions will come,” he said.
The MD of O-ORBDA, Dr Ashiru, lauded the former president for his foresight to create the 11 river basins 48 years ago.
He said the vision for effective water management and sustainability which Obasanjo had since 1977 was just caught by the United Nations about 10 years ago.
He said since his assumption of office, he had been working with the team to make the basin functional for agricultural production, and flood control, among others, as envisioned by the founding fathers.
Ashiru said President Bola Tinubu was committed to ensuring the basins were put to good use, to boost food security drives.
He announced plans by the Ogun-Osun River Basin to construct seven dams across the southwest, with N45bn budgetary allocation in 2025 to drive irrigation farming among other laudable projects.
The PUNCH
