.Feb 14, 2012 - Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Tuesday handed over the second one million gallon per day capacity World Bank assisted Mini Water Works at Iponri, saying the State Water Corporation will soon address the environment risk posed by the proliferation of boreholes.

The Governor who spoke at Iponri said the residents of the State are better off with more water works than more boreholes in the different houses, adding that the proliferation of boreholes will be addressed in the next few weeks.

He urged the people to continue to make domestic connections to their homes wherever there is a waterworks, saying government will continue to supply the mains to bring them close to the various homes.

"Let us continue to shut down those boreholes because they have long term environmental impact and environmental damage to our State and our people", the Governor appealed.

Governor Fashola described the project as part of the short term strategy to ensure that water is supplied to every home in Lagos State which started by the restoration of Iju and Adiyan Waterworks to their full capacity.

He explained that now, the State is delivering about 98 percent of the installed capacity of the 114 million gallons installed by the construction of a dedicated power plant of 12Megawatts for the Iju and Adiyan Waterworks.

"Since then, we have embarked on 15 Mini Water Works each of two million capacity per day, each with a reticulation of 5 kilometres radius where situated. We have handed over 10, the remaining five are in various stages of completion".

"This is another level of intervention through strategic construction and location of six one million gallons per day Water works like this in partnership with the World Bank. This is the second of the six to serve this area, Iponri, Costain and environs", Governor Fashola stated.

Governor Fashola explained that for his administration, water is life, adding that it is part of its long term prevention strategy in health care. "We can build all of the hospitals but as I have said always, we don't want you in the hospital, we want you alive, well, hale and hearty and kicking and contributing to the development of Lagos State and partaking of the benefits".

He said the government wants all the children to be healthy children and is convinced that wherever there is water, there would be improved healthcare, improved sanitation which would allow the government combat water borne diseases like Cholera.

He expressed the conviction that by the time the government starts the implementation of its medium to long term planning, the problem of water supply would be a thing of the past and a historical piece which everyone would like to forget.

"13 years ago, Lagosians carried water on their heads, so we are coming and going nearer there. By the time we implement Odomola Phase Two, Ishashi, Oto Ikosi, Adiyan in the medium term plan, we will be close to 70 or 80percent of the water demand in the State"

"As we hit the final phase of our 10 year plan and the plan is already completed, our commitment is to implement the 2010 to 2015 phase of it", the Governor said.

He expressed the conviction that the last phase will involve intensive water education, water conservation and water preservation, stating that often times some of the things that people complain of as being inadequate seem so because they do not optimize usage.

He said people should always conserve water, lock all taps and wherever there are incidents of broken pipes, they should be brought to the notice of the Water Corporation, because the agency has the capacity to repair broken pipes if contacted.

He said as part of these, he has published the contact phone numbers and e-mail addresses of all management members of the State Government, including the Lagos State Water Corporation, so that members of the public can use the numbers to reach the public official and ask questions at all times.

Speaking earlier, the Group Managing Director of the State Water Corporation, Mr Shayo Holloway said out of the six World Bank assisted Mini Water Works, two have been handed over, the one in Aguda is ready for commissioning while Isheri Oke, Alexander and Apongbon are at various stages of completion.

He said the State has handed over 10 Mini Water Works each with a capacity of two million gallons per day while the remaining five are in various stages of completion.

He stated that under the medium term plan with the Adiyan Phase two Water Works which will put 70 million gallons into the existing system, Ishasi Water Works expansion from four million gallons per day to 12 Million gallons per day and Odomola Water scheme which will take care of the Lekki, Ajah, Victoria Island to Ikoyi axis Iju while Adiyan will then focus on the Mainland.

The Governor later handed over the Water Works before he undertook a guided tour of the facility including the Laboratory, the Chemical dosing room and the Control Panel room among others.

Prominent among those who witnessed the event were members of the State Executive, the Chairman of Surulere Local Government, Mr Ganiyu Ajide and several dignitaries.

OAM4J:

Good one. My Lagos is working.

Beaf:

Lol! "Fashola goes to toilet," lets put it on NL!
I am sick of seeing governors cutting tapes to mundane things and screaming to high heavens like they invented Jesus and his miracles.

It is even the local government chairmans job to provide and launch water projects.

Of all the states in the country, the only one that should be screaming is Akwa Ibom. That is the state with the record allocation for capital projects in Nigeria; a whopping 83%. I don't want to see any governor that is spending 50% of his states allocation on political gifts and bereaucracy attempting to pass that off as "performance." We are no longer deceived by eye candy.

After 51 years of independence, each state should be financially self sufficient; instead, the governors hover about the place, begging Abuja for money and posing with projects that are within the remit of local governments.

Akwa Ibom is building a deep sea port, massive power stations etc. Thats the kind of thing I want to hear, not not stories about mickey mouse launches of boreholes and water filters.

afam4eva:

Are you a lagosian?

djustice:

[s]Just because people like Eko-Ile are brain-dead from snorting too much Fashola/Tinubu fecal matter, does not mean that we all are.

In the run-up to the 2011 general elections, Fashola "commissioned" two supposedly completed "waterworks" projects to much fanfare - at Ikorodu in Ikorodu Local Government, and Langbasa in Eti-Osa Local Government. I have visited both severally since then, and while the one at Ikorodu produces some water, it cannot be evacuated from the plant, because the hare-brained "action governor" and his fellow ACN zombies did not think of installing pipelines in Ikorodu metropolis to get the water to the people who need it. So, you have this absurd situation where PRIVATE water tankers are driving in to fill up and SELL the water to the residents of Ikorodu. In Langbasa, THERE IS NOT A DROP OF WATER BEING PRODUCED!!!

This is just another sham project being commissioned by this hammer-headed spineless Tinubu puppet. Mark my words: Within less than a year, there will be no potable water being produced at this giant water filter. These guys are utterly clueless braggarts, full of lies and lots of marketable prose. PDP is the best party ever to rule in Nigeria. Let them shout all they like. Go to Akwa Ibom or Cross River or Rivers, or Imo, or Jigawa, or Kwara states and talk trash about PDP in the market place, see whether you won't be lynched by the ordinary folk on the streets in those states.

Meanwhile, it was in Oyo state that Mrs. Remi Tinubu, Ashafa and Ojudu nearly lost their lives during the "fuel subsidy protest" funded by Bola Tinubu - presumably an ACN state. In Ekiti, it's even worse, and Ogun indigenes are now rueing the day they went mad momentarily and voted another Tinubu puppet into office. Demolitions and attacks on education are now the hallmarks of ACN, the party of illiteracy!![/s]

djustice:

Beaf:

Lol! "Fashola goes to toilet," lets put it on NL!
I am sick of seeing governors cutting tapes to mundane things and screaming to high heavens like they invented Jesus and his miracles.

It is even the local government chairmans job to provide and launch water projects.

Of all the states in the country, the only one that should be screaming is Akwa Ibom. That is the state with the record allocation for capital projects in Nigeria; a whopping 83%. I don't want to see any governor that is spending 50% of his states allocation on political gifts and bureaucracy attempting to pass that off as "performance." We are no longer deceived by eye candy.

After 51 years of independence, each state should be financially self sufficient; instead, the governors hover about the place, begging Abuja for money and posing with projects that are within the remit of local governments.

Akwa Ibom is building a deep sea port, massive power stations etc. Thats the kind of thing I want to hear, not not stories about mickey mouse launches of boreholes and water filters.

afam4eva:

Are you a lagosian?

koruji:

So, what is the logic here?

That the Lagos state governor should check with Akwa Ibom before telling his people and the world what he is doing to better their lives? Is somebody stopping the Akwa Ibom governor from trumpeting his own achievements? Who knows, he may be doing just that in another forum.

What is my point? Please bring us photos and stories of your state governor's performance. That way we can promote competition among them, and move them to greater heights.

Fashola, please keep on keeping on - when you commission the light-rail project & many others in the pipeline we will all be here to rejoice.

Eko Ile, thank you for keeping us updated on the performance of this able governor.

Beaf:

^
The day you see the logic is the day you will finally understand how people have been pissing on your head and you've been heartily gulping down the stuff. You will also understand that a governors job is to actually generate local wellbeing, wealth and industry; not take photographs of failure to severe their states off the Abuja beggars umbilical cord. Practically all states are guilty of this, but the people have been so traumatised by military rule that they can longer tell whether the vehicle is headed backwards or forwards. Imagine celebrating a water project like God has come down?

I will repeat that such water projects are within the purview of Local govts, not the state govt. If you rise to cheer your governor for delivering what is expected of LG bosses, then you are a mere statistic to be trampled.

Governors like Akpabio don't need to broadcast, you just can't miss a state where capital expenditure is 83% of its budget - Fashola can only boast about half of that, where is the rest of the money going?. Not just spending 83%, Akwa Ibomites are not going around screaming to God about how they have dug boreholes. If they did that, what would be left for them to do after they have completed airports, deep sea ports, massive power stations etc? If people like you were from Akwa Ibom, they would already have built shrines to worship a mere mortal like themselves who is doing his job (and bloody doing it well).

What we are witnessing is a cult of stup!dity.

Eko Ile:

Well, you losers better get used to it.


The governor promised 15 waterworks and so far, we have commissioned 10. 5 more to go and I'll be here to rub them all in your faces,

igbaodun:

You dont get the point, do you?

[b]Its not Fashola's job to commission water projects, the LG should do that. In this day and age, Fashola should be commissioning bigger and bolder projects, not mundane stuff. [/b]This is the governor of Lagos state we are talking about here!!!  If we have learned anything in the last few decades, it is that  commissioning water projects to great fanfare and cutting ribbons for mundane stuff is no longer an effective measure of good governance at the state level.  We have seen that the state government aren't that great with follow-ups and maintenance; after all, they are very far away from the LG level/people most affected. As far as I can tell, good governance at the state level involves strategic planning, qualitative education and adequate healthcare and adequate & regulatory oversight on the quality of water that is produced etc, not just to a segment of the population or to the people closest to the governor and its aides, but to the whole state it its entirety.

So I'm proposing a radical shift in rhetoric: Any future project that would be commissioned by the state CEO should be well thought-out and with the whole state in mind, not just a segment, and with the view of granting more autonomy to the LG to be able to do their job, not because it is the right thing to do, but because the LG are closest to the people and know what is most needed by the people than the  highfalutin faraway state executive. Yes, when an overbearing state executive commission an overpriced waterworks, it helps the people in that locality and no doubt local government too. But let's not undermine the LG in the process.  In any ordinary moral calculus, the LG comes first and should be the one dealing with issues the Lagos State Government is ever eager to incompetently attend to, rendering the LG redundant not withstanding.

igbaodun:

You dont get the point, do you?

Its not Fashola's job to commission water projects, the LG should do that. In this day and age, Fashola should be commissioning bigger and bolder projects, not mundane stuff. This is the governor of Lagos state we are talking about here!!!  If we have learned anything in the last few decades, it is that  commissioning water projects to great fanfare and cutting ribbons for mundane stuff is no longer an effective measure of good governance at the state level.  We have seen that the state government aren't that great with follow-ups and maintenance; after all, they are very far away from the LG level/people most affected. As far as I can tell, good governance at the state level involves strategic planning, qualitative education and adequate healthcare and adequate & regulatory oversight on the quality of water that is produced etc, not just to a segment of the population or to the people closest to the governor and its aides, but to the whole state it its entirety.

So I'm proposing a radical shift in rhetoric: Any future project that would be commissioned by the state CEO should be well thought-out and with the whole state in mind, not just a segment, and with the view of granting more autonomy to the LG to be able to do their job, not because it is the right thing to do, but because the LG are closest to the people and know what is most needed by the people than the  highfalutin faraway state executive. Yes, when an overbearing state executive commission an overpriced waterworks, it helps the people in that locality and no doubt local government too. But let's not undermine the LG in the process.  In any ordinary moral calculus, the LG comes first and should be the one dealing with issues the Lagos State Government is ever eager to incompetently attend to, rendering the LG redundant not withstanding.

igbaodun:

You dont get the point, do you?

Its not Fashola's job to commission water projects, the LG should do that. In this day and age, Fashola should be commissioning bigger and bolder projects, not mundane stuff. This is the governor of Lagos state we are talking about here!!!  If we have learned anything in the last few decades, it is that  commissioning water projects to great fanfare and cutting ribbons for mundane stuff is no longer an effective measure of good governance at the state level.  We have seen that the state government aren't that great with follow-ups and maintenance; after all, they are very far away from the LG level/people most affected. As far as I can tell, good governance at the state level involves strategic planning, qualitative education and adequate healthcare and adequate & regulatory oversight on the quality of water that is produced etc, not just to a segment of the population or to the people closest to the governor and its aides, but to the whole state it its entirety.

So I'm proposing a radical shift in rhetoric: Any future project that would be commissioned by the state CEO should be well thought-out and with the whole state in mind, not just a segment, and with the view of granting more autonomy to the LG to be able to do their job, not because it is the right thing to do, but because the LG are closest to the people and know what is most needed by the people than the  highfalutin faraway state executive. Yes, when an overbearing state executive commission an overpriced waterworks, it helps the people in that locality and no doubt local government too. But let's not undermine the LG in the process.  In any ordinary moral calculus, the LG comes first and should be the one dealing with issues the Lagos State Government is ever eager to incompetently attend to, rendering the LG redundant not withstanding.

allycat:

I live in Mende Maryland less than a kilometre from the mini waterworks in that area which was commissioned about 2 years ago. I still rely on a borehole for water. My business premise is on the same street as the water works and there we rely on well water. So for me this does not impress me.

oyb:

fashola delivers projects while beafs monkey delivers speeches

nuff said

hercules07:

@allycat

Go and pay your water rates, you are one of those refusing to pay, my office is down the road and my partner lives in Anthony and has regular water supply, heck, we see water flowing when the pipes burst close to the secondary school there, abeg find something else to say jare.