Epileptic power bane of effective water supply in Oyo ― Water Corporation Chairman

Chairman, Water Corporation of Oyo State, Dr Adebayo Adepoju has identified epileptic power supply as the greatest challenge in the corporation’s quest for effective distribution of pipe-borne water across the state.

Adepoju who made this disclosure on Wednesday while addressing journalists said poor power supply accounted for 70 per cent of the problem of reviving pipe-borne water supply in the state.

Though he noted that the corporation had engaged the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) on a regular supply of electricity to the state’s water schemes, he decried that little results had been yielded from the engagements.

While hoping for an improvement in power supply, Adepoju said the corporation was working on installing hydropower in most of its water schemes across the state.

He, however, avowed that water supply across the state continued to be improved upon with continuous fixing of water pipelines.

“The corporation is doing its best to revive pipe-borne water in the state. We have issues that we have encountered as a result of what we are trying to do. The greatest problem we have at this point is power.

“We need the power to be able to pump out water. Epileptic power supply accounts for about 70 per cent of the problem we are facing.

“When there is no water, it’s always a factor of we not being able to pump. It’s not a case of we are not working to repair our pipelines.

“You must have also seen bursts in different places around the city which indicates that water is flowing. We are not there yet but I can tell you it is work in progress.

“In Oke-Ogun, we have an ongoing project in Saki, Atori and Koso.

We have others in Oke-Ogun being incapacitated by power; low voltage and high voltage in some areas like Igbeti, Ogbomoso. The greatest problem we have is with power supply.

“We have gone ahead to engage IBEDC to ensure that we have a steady power supply to our schemes. This worked out for a couple of months but we have seen that this hasn’t really worked out. We invited them for a meeting again, a couple of weeks ago, to renew this commitment with them because, without them, we can’t really work.

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“It feels like we are dependent on IBEDC which we really do not like. We are hoping to be an organization where we can control a lot of our processes. If we can control a lot of our processes, then we can control the businesses we run. We are working tirelessly and that is why we have all the ongoing projects.

“Currently, we have an ongoing project to install hydropower in most of our schemes. We also have another Public-Private Partnership that is coming up that Governor Seyi Makinde has approved with a company called geo brick where they will also be providing us with hydropower as well. Once that is in place, we will have very little problems with power.

The next will be fixing our pipelines which we are working towards.

“I can tell you there are so many success stories. We are proud to say in Eruwa that has not had water supply for the past six to seven years, there is water today and we are working on the entire Ibarapa town. We are committed a lot of resources to revive water supply in Mapo, Beere and other parts of Ibadan,” Adepoju said.

Speaking further, Adepoju described as baseless an allegation by a chieftain of the Alliance for Democracy, Mr Hakeem Alao that the corporation was illegally selling pipes in the state’s water schemes.

He described the alarm raised as false, noting that the pipes were only brought out of the swamp in Asejire water scheme where it lay for years as part of an ongoing audit of the corporation’s assets.

According to Adepoju, the said pipes had not left the confines of the Asejire water scheme were only brought out for proper counting and in taking inventory of the corporation’s stock.

Asked when the audit committee will submit its report, he said the report was expected to come in by end of October with an audit of the Asejire and Eleyele water schemes left to be concluded.

“The attention of management and staff of Water Corporation of Oyo State has been drawn to an online publication made by a chieftain of the Alliance for Democracy, Hakeem Alao on the alleged illegal sale of water corporation pipes. While the corporation refutes the claim in its entirety, it has become extremely important to keep the public well-informed.

“A few months ago, a committee was set up to audit all the assets and take inventory of the commission’s stock. It’s the responsibility, among others, was to ascertain and account for all inventory and assets of the corporation for accountability.

“The said pipes had been lying in the swamp for years, so they had to be brought out for proper counting, audit and accountability. As a result of bringing out these pipes, there was an alarm that the pipes were being taken out for illegal sale.

“The management had earlier followed up on all information received and moved to properly secure assets.

Some of the measures put in place include the replacement of the security outfit that watches the scheme, the installation of 24-hour solar powered security surveillance camera that can be viewed both on-site, in the office and remotely.

“We also went further to complete the damaged fence of the Asejire scheme so the perimeter fence there is very well secured just to ensure that nothing leaves the premises without proper authorisation.

“The picture being circulated online as portraying illegal sale of pipes is baseless.

“As a result of carrying out the audit and accounting for all the pipes in the scheme, these pipes are very huge and are not liftable by anybody. You have to use a truck to pull it out. The truck in the picture is one of the trucks that was used to pull out these pipes.

“Last month, I was informed that something illegal was going on in the scheme. Immediately I called the Chairman of the Joint Tax Force and Operation Burst and asked them to look at things happening in the scheme that they had to look into it.

“They went there swiftly and that was when that picture was taken when they were trying to pull out that truck.

“I feel that publication was made to drag the corporation and myself in the mud and we refute this in its entirety.  The corporation takes exception to that claim,” Adepoju said.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE