…From Dele Ogunyemi, Ibadan…
Worried by the upsurge of cholera outbreaks in some parts of the country, the Federal Government on Wednesday read riot act to water borehole drillers across the federation to strictly embrace the code of practice in order to ensure provision of potable ground water for Nigerians.
The Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Reng Ochekpe made this known in Ibadan, Oyo State capital while declaring open an international workshop on Standardizing Borehole Drilling Activities in Nigeria organized by the Association of Waterwell Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners (AWDROP) held at Kakanfo Inn.
Ochekpe who was represented by a Director in the Ministry, Mr. Adetunji Idowu charged the borehole drilling practitioners to initiative a monitoring programme with a view to fishing out members who are not complying with the existing standards.
The Minister declared: “For a borehole to serve its intended purpose, it is expected that drilling and construction activities are carried out according to established standards and code. Following strictly the code of practice for water well construction, borehole drilling activities will be standardized in Nigeria, regulations on drilling activities will take place and contractors not following bore well construction standards will be ruled out of business. The provision of potable water infrastructure in the form of standardized boreholes has great impact on communities, households and individuals. There are both direct and indirect environmental, social and economic impact benefits from boreholes provision to communities. For example, education made possible, through the provision of boreholes can affect income and health and both in turn do affect the quality of life for individuals, their households and in their communities.
“I therefore call upon you the association of water Well (Borehole) Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners to persuade your members to embrace code practice for water well construction for standardization of boreholes drilling in Nigeria. This is the only way to provide potable ground water to Nigeria, actualize the transformation agenda of Mr. President and the MDGs. This will also bring about environmental stability, increase in wealth and quality time for relaxation, religious services, school attendance and good health.”
Speaking earlier, the President of AWDROP, Mr. Michael Ale acknowledged the need for government to make water management a priority and evaluate water risks across social, economic, hydrological, geopolitical and broad environmental contexts.
He expressed the hope that the incidents of water-infected diseases “will change slowly when external pressure from shareholders like AWDROP begin behavioural change advocacy across the country.”
Delegates from all the states of the federation are participating at the workshop which ends Friday.