Owena Multipurpose Dam with the capacity to supply water to the people in the central senatorial district of Ondo State, irrigation to 5000 hectares, and hydropower generation is in limbo. What is your ministry doing?

Let me, first of all, say we have to give glory to God for giving us a governor like Honourable Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have known anything about Owena Dam. I would have been hearing it like any other person. But now have to superintend over matters that have to do with the place. The place has been in limbo for quite some time, and that is a displeasure to Mr Governor who noted that the first thing he wanted to do was to get water to the vast majority of our people, most especially the central senatorial district. Why there are problems because of politics and finances, politics from the center. The country has gotten Its fair share of changes in government and policies. A particular government may decide to go for road infrastructure, leaving other areas to suffer. Another one may decide to go for electricity. The dam was expected to provide pipe-borne water, irrigation, and electricity.

If there are economic indices against your policies, you cannot forge ahead with your plans. These are problems that have affected the progress of the dam.

. What makes the present government have a vested interest in the dam?

The dam was meant to service pipe-borne water to the people of the central senatorial district, irrigate farmlands, and provide hydroelectricity. The late Governor prioritized the matter but could not see it to a logical conclusion because of his illness and death. The successor, Governor Aiyedatiwa, stood by all the policies enshrined by the late Governor.

Can you please specify some of the indices that have been hindering the project?

Finance. There is an economic recession globally. In advanced countries, industries are laying off staff. At the community level, pilfering also takes place, such that instead of building on what is already on the ground, one has to start afresh. We know that people want to survive but you cannot survive by stealing. Otherwise, when you are caught, you will face the music.

Succeeding governments in Ondo State have been trading blame on the failure of the project which the federal government through Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority said has fulfilled its part, in your view, what are the challenges of reticulating this water for the people?

Reticulation is not the only problem. Beyond reticulation, we still have other issues, for instance, litigation. The contract was awarded to a particular company. When there was a change of government, the new government awarded the contract to another company, and the first company went to court. Once all these international agencies know that there is a court case over a project they will stay away.

Because Aketi had it in mind to pursue the matter to a logical conclusion but was called to glory, the incumbent governor who was a part of that administration deemed it fit to continue from where his predecessor stopped. I traveled to Abuja to meet with our foreign partners. They will be coming here tomorrow ( last Wednesday) to begin a mission. A lot of things are going on internally but we will begin to award the contract now. The reservoir is going to be refurbished. There will be pipe laying and many other projects.

You made mention of legal tussles. Have those legal tussles been resolved?

 Yes. 70 to 80 percent settled.

There was a government that awarded a contract of N14 million and half of the amount was allegedly paid. What will now happen to the…

That dam belongs to the Federal Government, not the Ondo State Government. Generating electricity from the dam and irrigation are federal government projects. We are only leveraging what the federal government has done. Getting pipe-borne water from the dam happens to be an Ondo State Government project in conjunction with the African Development Bank and French Development Bank. So, I don’t know anything about the one you are talking about.

The member representing Idanre/Ifedore federal constituency, Tajudeen Adefisoye in his motion raised on the floor of the House in February 2020 said the multipurpose dam was 70 percent completed, during your visit, it was said to have been completed in 2014, what is the trust situation of the dam?

I think the resident engineer wouldn’t be a novice. What he told me was that the dam was completed in 2014, waiting for utilization. So, maybe Adefisoye was referring to reticulation. We were even thinking of the dam being able to supply water to residents latest November but the engineers told us that would not be feasible. Since it is a project that will last for several years, we must not rush. A lot of engineering works need to be done and all of them will take time.

When you led a team of experts to the Dam last week, you pointed out that Governor Aiyedatiwa had ordered all relevant government agencies to introduce necessary measures and expertise for the provision of potable water from the facility and many others in the State, within the shortest period What are these measures?

Immediately does not mean now but that we should work according to target. For example, we said we wanted water to be available by November but they told us that would not be feasible, and that it would take up to 18 months, and they explained the stages to us. Mr Governor’s directive still took us to Abuja. We were in Abuja between Tuesday and Friday to meet our foreign partners. They also will be here from tomorrow.

As we all know, agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. We want you to speak more on the irrigation aspect of this dam. Do you have any specific plan to ensure that the project captures irrigation for the use of farmers to ensure food production across the central senatorial district of the state?

It’s not about irrigation. The collaborators are treating the aspect of pipe-borne water for people of the central senatorial district. The money is meant for that alone, not irrigation. Irrigation may still come up later, but that is not the focus now.

The meeting in Abuja with your partner. What was the outcome?

They will look at everything we have on ground and we will talk about how to award the contract.

What assurance are you giving to the people of Ondo State now?

The assurance is that the project is coming up beautifully well. Our partners are coming tomorrow. The project will last for 18 months, beginning from the day the contract is awarded, and it will be awarded by the time our partners complete their mission which begins tomorrow. They will tour all seven local governments in the targeted area.

Should we now say that the contract has not been awarded since 2007?

The contract awarded then was that of to get offices, install ICT, purchase laptops, get officers, purchase utility vehicles, and so on, those are internal things, but the concrete ones are what we are moving into. Awarding a contract for laying pipes, and reservoirs among others is the level we are in now, which is the reticulation proper.

How many reservoirs are to be built?

The first one will be the one to be beside the dam, that is the largest one. The one that will run through Akure and its environs is the one in lfedore local government, we are targeting 3,000 households, and at least there will be five people per household, which will not be less than 1.5 million people. The one at Owena, Ondo Road will service Idanre, Ondo East, Ondo West, and Ile-Oluji.On that, we are targeting about 2,000 households or more, that is the initial target but later on, it will be increasing/expanding.

Will there be any financial obligation?

Definitely, there is going to be. For those that will get pipes to their houses, not the public ones. That is a utility service, which must be paid for.

What of that RUWASSA programme?

The 21st-century water project is not all about drilling boreholes, the land itself is having problems, there are serious challenges aside from the consequence of slide, the problem of habitat being infringed upon, sanitary problems due to unhygienic nature that can sink into the ground, and that is the water we take. When talking about internationally founded projects, they don’t talk about boreholes. But because we cannot wait till this project begins, it’s an alternative rather than people going to the streams which is more dangerous.

Will the existing water points be rehabilitated?

Yes, those were the intentions, there will be specific locations where public water will be done, it may not necessarily be all the exact locations, it depends. The loan is not what the government will pay back itself, but when everything has been done in totality, everything being equal, when there is no disconnect when the government is doing its own best and people are doing fine, water cooperation is doing fine and all officers adhere strictly to guidelines with due process and water flows to houses, that is where the money will be going back to the sponsor, that is the French Development Bank, it’s not that every year through the budget, the government will be returning loan and it is not backbone or jaw breaking fee people are to pay. We don’t pay much money on water meanwhile, internationally funded loans, will not be handed to the government, it’s after they have awarded all contracts that the project will be handed to the government, and the contract will equally be awarded based on the standard of firms. it is not about man knows man, it is even beyond the State government, our is to monitor to ensure it is done according to specification.

Based on this standardization, should we then agree that this is the first time this dam project will be awarded?

It should be so, the counterpart financing began around 2017.

What of the ones before 2017?

When there are problems with litigations, it affects the whole thing. the contract can’t be awarded.

To a layman on the street, when should people be expecting the delivery?

Eighteen months from when the contract is awarded and the process and preparation for the award begin tomorrow, Wednesday to Friday. As soon as the mission is concluded, they will move materials to the site to take off, we don’t have power over the award of contracts, our own is to supervise.

Hope there won’t be any room for another litigation?

No, it has been settled, if there is any issue in the cause of laying pipes, there is a committee that will look into that and look at what it involves for compensation. This is part of the mission. Seven local governments are benefiting from the project in the Central senatorial district.

We have a steering committee headed by the current commissioner. Members are drawn from other corresponding ministries, usually their permanent secretaries or any other person who is trained. We have somebody from the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, the Ministry of Finance, and others. We held our meeting yesterday. We also have the GM of the Water Corporation.

The expectation is that the agency is now independent. The current GM is an electrical engineer. Even if the current commissioner is redeployed, the project will continue. We have gone past the stage of legal tussles. The governor and commissioner are not signatories. No matter who is redeployed, it does not affect the work because there is a project implementation manual to follow.