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The governor of Bayelsa State, Mr Seriake Dickson, has signed an agreement with the World Bank, European Union, United Nations Children’s Fund and other technical partners for the provision of water for 200 communities in Bayelsa State.
According to Governor Dickson, the agreement will ensure that all communities in the State would get access to water in the next three years.
A statement on Saturday by his spokesman, Daniel Markson-Iworiso, said Governor Dickson made the position known during an interactive session with media executives in Abuja after signing an agreement with the partners.
Governor Dickson stated that “in Bayelsa State, there is water everywhere but none to drink. We rarely have water to drink and some of the water are in salt water area. We need to desalinate it.
“So, out of a number of communities that really have that challenge, government selected some land locked communities to provide water and we have done that already.
“Our partners have selected 200 communities in Bayelsa State, principally in two Local Government Areas to provide a lot of things.
“We appreciate our partners, World Bank, EU and UNICEF who are contributing about 700 million Naira and the State government is putting 422 million Naira. In other words, we are actually bearing the cost of about 35 per cent of the project.
“But the key issue is not what they are providing. I am more interested in their technical expertise that they are bringing to the table. But I have told them that they need to expand it because I want more communities to benefit .
“The provision of potable water for the people is our priority. I want to ensure that every community in Bayesla State have water in the next three years. We will look for the resources and work with them. We will also tap on their
expertise. I told them that I will be willing if they can create another counterpart funding for even this year”.
“Access To Safe Drinking Water”
While acknowledging the fact that States are finding it difficult to meet the contributions, the governor said that Bayelsa State would “be willing to look for money to start another one so that again a minimum of 200 or 250 more
communities again can benefit”.
“I want to ensure that within the next three years, every community, no matter how small, should have access to some safe drinking water because sometimes the situation they manage is very bad.
“The people drink water from stagnant pools and get infected. We have cases of perennial cholera and drainages with pollution along waterways. There are a lot of things going on and that is why we are very committed to that and
we appreciate the partnership,” he emphasised.
Governor Dickson further called on community leaders to work with the contractors and protect the facilities by putting it into good use.
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