Sen. Godiya Akwashiki Gives Contractors 5-Day Ultimatum To Fix Hindrance To Nassarawa Eggon Water Supply
Senator representing Nasarawa North at the National Assembly, Distinguished Senator Godiya Akwashiki has given contractors constructing the Keffi-Akwanga-Lafia-Makurdi road a 5-day ultimatum to fix the hindrance to the supply of pipe-borne water to Nassarawa Eggon town.
Addressing the contractors when he visited the site at the outskirts of Nassarawa Eggon town just before the new market on Wednesday (February 1, 2023), a visibly annoyed Godiya Akwashiki threatened to take drastic action against the contractors if the problem is not fixed by Monday (February 6, 2023).
He said: “It is because of the road construction that the company has tampered with the pipes. And I wanted to bring a bulldozer and an excavator to bring it out by force. But because I have called one Engineer Chike who is between the authorities and the company, and he tried to plead with me saying they were going to have a meeting yesterday.
“As you can see, I am not happy with the way they are going about the job. It is because this thing has taken so long. It is more than 30 days now we have been battling with them to come and fix these things. I have spent millions of naira only for me to come and hook at the doorsteps of Nassarawa Eggon town. My aim was to make my community have 24-hours water supply. The day they will get the water will be like my birthday.
The Senator said his efforts to revamp the Lilley Dam which began over two years ago, is beginning to yield fruits.
“As I am talking to you now, we have tried to make sure that we fix all these things and they are already in order. Angwan Chiyawa, Kururuwa, Gako are now having pipe-borne water. In Kurugba water is running there.”
Senator Godiya Akwashiki appealed to the people of Nassarawa Eggon town to exercise more patience as he hopes the problem is rectified in no time for 24-hours water supply to be available for them.
Speaking on behalf of China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), the contractors handling the road construction, Engr. Yunusa Suleiman said: “We had a meeting in respect to the water pipes yesterday with the Road Sector Development Team (RSDT) and we agreed that we were going to meet on site with the consultant, the representative of CHEC and the representative of the water board so that we can take the measurement and know the cost implication then we will report back to the RSDT.
“Coincidentally, the Distinguished Senator saw us and stopped and we have taken the measurement with him. We have given the representative of the water board who will go and do the compilation and we will report back to RSDT to see how we can fast-track the whole thing. Let’s see how we can fix their pipe so that the community gets the water.”
The scarcity of water in Nassarawa Eggon Local Government Area, especially Nassarawa Eggon town, is a perennial one. Several attempts to fix the problem in the past have all failed and the efforts by Senator Godiya Akwashiki – which is almost complete – is one that the people of Nassarawa Eggon would not forget in a hurry.
