The Ekiti State Government has asked stakeholders to cooperate in providing adequate, effective, and hygienic water supply to homes and facilities.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Infrastructure and Public
Utilities, Prof. Mobolaji Aluko, harped on the need for collaboration on the ongoing Sustainable Urban Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene programme in the state, to achieve the desired goal of guaranteeing adequate water supply and hygiene services to all parts of Ekiti State.
Aluko, who spoke in Ado Ekiti during the opening of a two-day stakeholders’ engagement with the theme “Deepening the strategies for results on the SURWASH programme in Ekiti State”, said that water was key for healthy living, adding that guaranteeing enough water through the pipes for drinking, sanitation, hygienic and industrial purposes was possible.
The special adviser said users must pay for water used, stressing the need for the state government and all stakeholders to live up to their responsibilities and take ownership of the project to guarantee success.
The Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Olubunmi Adelugba, who pledged legislature’s support in the area of the laws, emphasised the need to step up sensitisation on the need for stakeholders to take responsibility for SURWASH, saying it was not the responsibility of government alone.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Utilities, Olumide Ajayi, said that for sustenance, the implementing agencies on the SURWASH programme should ensure a good job and follow the rules for implementation and disbursement purposes, stressing that the World Bank would only disburse for work done according to specifications and due independent verification.
Ajayi said that consideration must be given to the environmental and social safeguard impact on the programme as well as the gender mainstreaming, saying non-compliance to rules attached to all disbursement link indicators would lead to non-disbursement.