As a way of living up to the expectations of a responsive government, the Executive Governor of Bayelsa State, Rt. Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson has presented a cheque of N422 million as counterpart fund for water project in rural communities of Bayelsa.
The counterpart fund represents 35% of the total project sum of N1.2bn, which is a joint intervention programme of the UNICEF, EU and World Bank, expected to provide potable water for 200 communities in the state.
Gov. Dickson, while presenting the cheque to the representative of the three international bodies in Abuja at the weekend, disclosed that, about 200 communities in Bayelsa have been principally selected from two local government areas, to benefit from the first phase of the project.
“The EU, UNICEF and World Bank are jointly contributing the sum of N700m while the state government is putting N422 million into the project, representing about 30 per cent of the cost”, he said.
He said, “In fact, the key element of this agreement which for us is unquantifiable, is not the money that these bodies are providing but the technical expertise they are bringing to the table.”
He added that local engineers and technicians from the state were being positioned to acquire expertise knowledge from their international counterparts that would handle the project.
The elated Governor while appreciating the the efforts of the 3 international donors, said it would please its administration more if the agreement was expanded to include 250 communities before the end of the year.
“The challenge with Bayelsa is that while we have water everywhere, we rarely have clean water to drink. The chunk of the water is salty.
“This administration had constructed a number of water projects in some land locked communities but these were not enough. I think, this effort will go a long way to ease the pressure on us.
“This is why I have requested that another counterpart funding arrangement be struck within the year for 250 more communities to be captured,’’ Dickson added.
The Governor also canvased that every community in the state be given access to some safe drinking water.
“This should happen in the life of this administration, even if it is one tap running, because the situation these communities manage remained really acute and disheartening.
“The administration is committed to providing potable water to all communities in the state within the next three years.
“There are situations that compel the people to drink from stagnant pools, thereby, exposing themselves to perennial cholera and other dangerous diseases”, he said.
Governor Dickson noted that, though “some states are finding it difficult to meet up with their obligations to this laudable Federal Government-backed programme, but Bayelsa is prepared to do more, because it is our focus.”
He, therefore, charged the benefiting communities to provide the necessary peaceful environment to ensure the commencement of work, adding that they must also protect the installations.
Present at the brief presentation ceremony are the representative of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, that of Federal Ministry of Water Resources, the 3 international donors, members of the Bayelsa State Executive Council and other stakeholders.
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