AWDROP President wants Oyo govt to end collection of N30,000 permit for borehole drilling

The National President of the Association of Water Well Drilling Rig Owners & Practitioners (AWDROP), Michael Ale, has advised the Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde to abolish the N30,000 permit being collected on borehole drilling in the state, saying the decision will make life more difficult for citizens.

The water expert while speaking with Tribune Online on Thursday noted that the government is supposed to make policies capable of providing potable water for the citizenry and not create unnecessary hardship for them especially now the citizens are witnessing economic difficulties.

According to him, it is no longer news that about 93 million Nigerians will go into the poverty line as published by the world bank 2022, as the current energy crisis had heated up the life-bearing capacity of many Nigerians.

Ale, posited that the cost of diesel has gone up by two hundred per cent which had affected the cost of drilling boreholes and many Nigerian without access to safe drinking water had increased to seventy per cent as against fifty-five per cent in 2020.

He said: “The disparaging scenario is mind-boggling because so many sub-Nationals had abandoned water projects at the expense of road and other physical infrastructures which looks better and more acceptable to people.

Several Nigerians are left to their fate when it comes to water supply, especially the good people of Oyo State in the South Western part of the country.

“The unfortunate scenario is the issue of taxes and the levies on citizens before they can access the natural resources graciously given by God because the government had failed in their responsibility to provide pipe-borne water system.

“When permits are made by the law, they are made to serve as an instrument for safety and not for financial inducement. The Oyo State Ministry of Environment and Natural resources through the respective consultant have perfected a means to make life unbearable for the citizen through their draconian law, which speculated that before anybody can draw water from underground through borehole drilling, a sum of N30,000 must be coughed out, this is outrageous and will make life unbearable for the good people of the state.

“Even in states where regulations work by the establishment of the agency, nobody charges that amount of money, especially in this hard time, this is a call to the Excellency, Mr Seyi Makinde to temper justice with mercy and withdraw such law if it has been passed and or made public or reduce the amount drastically, especially to a citizen whose salary is just a take-home and cannot even drill a well not to talk of a borehole.

“Oyo State has the highest number of drilling rigs hence the need to regulate drilling operations is acceptable but this law should not be seen as a means of making money for the government at all costs. Yes, the Government is looking for a means of increasing revenue which is a welcome development, nevertheless, we cannot at the expense of many people whose life may be threatened, deprive them of their rights.”

He concluded that: “Governor Seyi Makinde through the state House of Assembly should first gazette this law, make it public and then sensitise the people of Oyo State before implementation.

“In the most suitable condition, Seyi Makinde should please call for withdrawal and repealing of this draconian law,” Ale submitted.

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