Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, says his administration is making landmark achievements in transforming the state better in eight months in office.
The people of Enugu State are happy with the Executive Governor of the state for keeping his campaign promises. One of which is constant water, saying that in his first 100 days in the office, the Enugu people would have water in all of its environs.
The governor in a live broadcast to the people of his state in December, while enumerating the achievements, Mbah said the issue of insecurity in the state has been dealt with, while the unlawful Monday Sit-at-Home order has also been addressed.
He said no economic development of any sort is possible in an environment of insecurity.
“We have launched and procured several vehicles to enhance the effectiveness and mobility of the Distress Response Squad in the state, and have commenced the rollout of a state-wide CCTV camera network which will provide 24/7 surveillance across the state.
“In the same vein, we are in the advanced stages of establishing a Security Trust Fund to make our heightened security posture more sustainable in the long term,” he said.
On the energy supply and management, the governor said his administration had signed the State Power Act into law, which domesticates the Electricity Act 2023 and now gives the state regulatory power to establish an Enugu State Electricity Market.
This, he said, would attract investors to expand power generation and distribution across the State.
In the past few months, investors have been attracted from all over the world, also, we are having the best from the private sector and development partners with the likes of AfDB, AFREXIM, FCDO, and the World Bank, amongst others.
“It also marks the beginning of the process of working with the investment world to curate our project pipeline to prepare them for investment in the not-distant future.
“On attracting external capital, we have repositioned the state in its relationship with key development partners like the World Bank, AFD (the French Development Agency) and opened the door to new funding for the state’s projects,” he said.
Mbah confirmed that the state shared the funding for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Value Chain Development Programme, and Development of Agricultural Value Chains, totalling N274 million, which would facilitate a receipt of N1.2 billion from IFAD.
With this, the payment would enhance smallholder productivity, and increase the volume and quality of marketable produce by strengthening farmers’ organisations as well as supporting smallholder production.
“In the past seven months, we had endeavoured to lay foundations for a new and prosperous Enugu State that would be a premier destination for business, investment, tourism and living.
“We equally undertook monumental tasks that broke decades-old jinxes in some sectors.
“We have also met all our obligations regarding joining the World Bank Livestock Productivity,” he concluded.
Speaking to the citizens of the state, Tochukwu Uche, a motorist said that the dead roads in Damija and Face One are now motorable, all thanks to the Governor. “That road has been in shambles for the past 3 years. Within that time, we had a governor who was busy selling all the lands in the state, forgetting that the roads needed to be fixed for the people he was selling the lands to ply.
“Now we have a governor that listens to the people. To be honest, during his campaign, he promised to fix all the urban and rural roads with 180 days in office, so am not surprised. But at first, I thought he was blabbing like what the past one did, but he’s showing the people of Enugu that he has all of us at heart and I thank him for that,” he said.
Jennifer Ani, a restaurant owner said that she is so happy with the governor, especially the water project he inaugurated last year in Ninth Mile. “This Water Scheme is expected to bring an end to perennial water scarcity in the state is even enough to give him a 100% mark.
“Gov. Mbah is someone we all love and since the government of Sen. Chimaroke Nnamani, Enugu, especially 9th Mile people has found it difficult to get water. Look at me, I own a restaurant, and you know water is essential in running this business, I usually pay people to get water for me because it is difficult to cook for people and just manage water, it would make my place look dirty, that time people would stop coming and my business would go down.
“So I thank him a lot for this project because we are already getting water constantly, without paying to anyone, imagine I have tap water in my place, so it’s easy for me now,” she said.
Amara Okoh, a stylist in the Enugu metropolis, said that she was surprised by the way the borehole in the compound is rushing daily until she asked someone. “I asked my neighbour what is going on, we often have water now unlike the last 5 years I have been here, she said that Gov. Mbah’s administration built the Oji River Water Scheme in the state to ensure adequate water supply in Enugu metropolis. This is the reason we have constant water.
“My bother you know that water is one, if not the most important thing one needs at home and workplace, I thank the Gov. for this and I know he would even do more. This is even coming less than one year in office, but we have people that stayed there for 8 years and did not than to see all the lands in this state,” she said.
It was reported that according to the Governor’s project, the Ninth Mile Water Scheme produces 70 million litres of water daily while the Oji River Water Scheme produces 50 million litres of water daily.
“I am happy to announce to Ndi Enugu that as of today we can produce 120 million litres of water non-stop far above our consumption volume. I can state here and now that pipe-borne water is here to stay.
“We must be willing to pay for this service. A reliable water supply is not cheap! I promise that this water will be far less expensive than what you are spending today on water tanker supply, but there is no way the water will be free.
“This will mean that we must be willing to pay for connection to the meters which will be installed by our homes and businesses and pay a fair monthly rate for the water we consume,” he said.
The governor noted that although there had been cases of burst pipes around the metropolis, the situation was expected given that the pipes had stayed long.
“However, these constitute but teething problems which we will surely surmount in a matter of days and constant water 365 days of the year will once again be a reality in Enugu,” he assured.
Meanwhile, the government of Peter Mbah has built public taps, otherwise known as water galleries, across the state to enable households and establishments yet to be connected to the water pipeline grid to have access to water.
According to him, those outside the grid, for the time being, can go to the water gallery. “We have built 96 water galleries across the state. They can go to the water galleries to fetch clean water,” he said.
The governor stressed that his administration will now focus attention on getting water across rural and semi-urban communities in the state.
He added that he would not consider his job fully done until people in the rural areas “can access water in or proximate to their homes and businesses.”
“The towns outside Enugu also have varied degrees of water problems. Now that we can see the end of the water issues around Enugu urban, we must now refocus to address towns like Nsukka, Oji, Udi etc. Finally, but certainly not the least important, we still have our rural areas, where clean water availability is still not assured,” he stated.
By Benprince Ezeh
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