It is always good to keep the historical record of a lifetime challenge because, Nigerians forget easily and therefore, I will devote the following to the history of the Ilesa water supply, the challenges and the pitfalls.
The old Ilesa Water Supply Scheme, commissioned in 1952 in the old Western Region, supplying 2,700m3/day went into a state of disrepair in the mid – eighties as the Efon – Alaye Intake Structure (now in Ekiti State) was frequently filled with silts; efforts to de-silt became unproductive and raw water abstraction impossible. The 22km Efon – Alaye/Ilesa raw water Asbestos Cement Transmission mains became deplorable and unserviceable because of frequent damage due to old age. Also, the road expansion works on Efon - Alaye roads created, a worst scenario when several kilometres of the Transmission Mains was damaged during construction. These and others led to abandonment and complete shutdown of the treatment facilities and hence led to Ilesa inability to access public water supply and total dependence on water from doubtful sources.
The new Ilesa Water Supply Scheme was conceived during the administration of Uncle Bola Ige, the Executive Governor of old Oyo State when it became clear that old Ilesa water Scheme would not be able to serve Ilesa with potable water because the town was increasing in population yearly. The contract for the new scheme was awarded to Messrs. Johnson Brothers International (Nig.) Ltd at a contract price of $65M. The Eximbank (USA) loan of US70m had been secured for Oyo State Government for the procurement of essential Mechanical and Electrical equipment and services to be rendered by the Technical Partners, Johnson Brothers International (Nig.) Ltd, i.e. Johnson Brothers Corporation of Minnesota, USA. The loan agreement which was signed in 1983 by old Oyo State Government was guaranteed by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Out of the external loan, some equipment and materials such as pump-sets, generators, electrical items and large diameter pipes were purchased and stored at Asejire Waterworks, Oyo State.
Messrs. Johnson Brother International mobilized to site in 1983 but not much work could be done when the military took over power in Nigeria on 31st December, 1983.
Prior to the sudden change of Government (around July/August, 1983) a sum of N7.2m and $11.6M was paid to JBI Ltd.; these payments were made in accordance to the contract agreement signed by the then Oyo State Government. The manner in which the said amount was managed by the contractors and their overseas partners, Messrs. Johnson Brothers Int’l Ltd created a lot of problem, so the project could not make much progress and became stalled and all project activities stopped. The USA Technical Partners of JBI Ltd moved out of the sites. The Eximbank Foreign loan for the project was lost. The contract with JBI (Nig.) Ltd was terminated by the old Oyo State in July 1985.
In 1985, Oyo State Military Government commenced negotiations with Nigerian Water Resources and Development Ltd & Messrs. Taylor Woodrow, United Kingdom (UK), the negotiations did not succeed.
In 1987, General Staff Headquarters, Dodan Barracks, Lagos via Letter No. GHQ/CGS/322 of February, 1987 directed Oyo State Government to allow Messrs. Johnson Brothers International Ltd. to continue with the jobs in view of the huge sum of money already committed into the project.
Consequent upon the above, the contract of New Ilesa Water Supply Scheme was re-awarded in conjunction with that of Ejigbo on 29th April, 1987, however, the efforts of the contractor to resuscitate Eximbank loan to execute the project failed because the Federal Government could not guarantee the loan and the Technical Partners JBC of USA withdrew in 1992.
The project was transferred to Osun State on its creation in August, 1991. Osun State Government decided to re-award the project to Messrs. Johnson Brothers International Ltd in 1992 but no new Contract Agreement was signed. JBI (Nig.) Ltd relied on the 1987 Contract Agreement signed with the then Oyo State Government which could not hold water.
All these were the efforts of the previous administrations on the New Ilesa Water Scheme since 1983; and from all the efforts narrated above, the State Government inherited two (2) large generators, some electrical equipment and about 18km of ductile iron pipes, out of which the government of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola laid over 9km from Osu to College of Education, Ilesa in an attempt to get water to Ilesa, but a drop of water has not flowed through these pipes since then. Attempts were made by Aregbesola’s Administration to utilize, the generators inherited, but all efforts failed as the manufacturer informed that the model is outdated. The remaining Ductile Iron Pipes are kept at the Centre for Black Art Culture’s compound, Abere with majority of them stacked at a school premises in Igila, on the way to Ilesa.
In the year 2006, the Federal Government of Nigeria awarded a contract for the construction of a dam at Kajola to Messrs. RCC, for the purpose of raw water source for Ilesa Water Supply Scheme. By 2009, the project was abandoned because of the variation needs on the contract. Due to economic devastation that was envisaged and a lot of compensations that would be paid to land owners should their land be submerged by the dam; the scope of works was reduced to the construction of a weir on Osun River and an intake structure at Kajola. An asset though, but without transmission and the distribution that take water to the doorsteps of Ijesa people, it could actually be a liability creating such pond of water without utilizing it.
Ijesaland was fortunate that his own son, Aregbesola Rauf was sworn in as the Executive Governor of Osun and at the inception of his administration in 2010, he wrote to the Federal Government on the need to complete the project as his priority. This is yielding to the yawning of his people and the clarion call of the paramount ruler of Ijesaland, His Imperial Majesty, Owa Obokun Adimula, Olokun Ola, Oba, Dr Adekunle Aromolaran, who used the 2011 and 2012 Iwude Ijesa to reinforce the demand for water supply. Through the initial powerful effort of Governor Aregbesola, the contract for the construction of weir, for water pond and intake at Kajola was re-awarded in 2012 and was completed in 2014. The upstream structure (a weir to create water pond and intake pumps) was handed over to the Water Corporation on 11th March, 2016.
The next challenges were the funding requirements for the construction of water treatment plants, transmission structures and the distribution networks that will take water to the communities, neighborhoods and doorsteps of the ijesas. The peak funding requirement would be over One hundred million dollars, about 25 billion Naira. How would Aregbeaola raise this huge fund and from which sources. How would he devote such huge fund to ijesaland alone without trading off other competing needs of the whole state. How would he handle the moral burden associated with funding and allocation of such huge funding to his people. How Ogbeni Aregbesola showed courage and demonstrated the love for his people to resolve these funding challenges (once and for all), will be documented and presented in another write up.
The pitfalls are the construction risks and the operational risks, which are already rearing their ugly heads. With destructive mining activities in Kajola and the adjoining communities, which are already altering the courses of the upstream rivers and depositing heavy metals (lead, Mercury, etc) into the rivers, the huge risk in addition to the pollution is that sufficient water may not get to the kajola pond for intake and water supply according to the ilesa water scheme, after the completion. The Government of Osun and the Ijesa community leaders must rise up to the challenges posed by these artisanal miners, with candor and with sincerity of purpose to stop them!!.
Wale Bolorunduro, PhD
Former Commissioner of Finance, Osun
2011 to 2014
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