Abimbola Akosile
21 October 2009
Lagos — A Town Hall meeting has identified the problems associated with potable water provision in Lagos State, and called on the state government to judiciously implement its findings..
The issues were highlighted at the recent 2nd National Urban Water Sector Reform Project Annual Water Customers /Stakeholders' workshop for Surulere /Apapa Distribution Areas (DSAs) held at Surulere Local Council Secretariat.
At the forum, the Deputy Director Sector Reform of Lagos Water Corporation, Mrs. A. K. Aina, disclosed that a loan was obtained from the World Bank to ensure availability of water to all Lagos residents.
She said that through the workshop, which she described as a continuous exercise, LWC hoped to seek to know most of the areas of need of the customers so that the corporation can get to know how to provide better services.
In his presentation on Customer Survey Synthesis Report, the project manager for the CSO Partner for Apapa/Surulere Distribution Service Areas (DSAs) and the Secretary General of Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) Barrister Ayo Adebusoye, said the essence of the survey was primarily to correct the perception of the people on public water delivery as a result of the poor water supply services.
The development, he said, has forced some residents to have resorted to alternative means such as boreholes and wells, according to an information by NNNGO media consultant, Mr. Kunle Idowu.
Adebusoye said the result of the survey showed that for the un-served population of a typical household size or number of persons in the premises was estimated at between 1-10 persons (55 per cent) while main source of drinking water and water for other purposes was dug wells and boreholes (over 35 per cent and 30 per cent respectively).
He further disclosed that most respondents spent ample time and other resources to get water because of the lack of access to LSWC's water network.
And for the served population, Adebusoye disclosed that it was complaints galore as majority of the customers claimed that LSWC
supplied water once or twice a week while some households /premises which have been connected to water network of LSWC as far back as 1950s, complained that the pressure of water supplied by LSWC is too low (not okay).
Most customers also complained that LSWC does not handle complaints promptly neither do they notify their customers of impending service disruptions.
Contributing, the CSO Advisor to the Lagos Water Corporation, Ms. Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, said LWC is developing a holistic policy on Stakeholder/CSO to perfect the communication, accountability and stability of the project.
She attributed the failure of the first reform project on corruption and this necessitated the birth of the 2nd National Urban Sector Water Sector Reform Project by the World Bank, which is supposed to make adequate provision for the entire population of the state as far as portable water is concerned.
Ransome-Kuti then called on communities to be committed and aggressive at pursuing safe water supply, and appealed to all customers and stakeholders at the workshop to embrace community policing and bring their problems to the attention of the high-powered delegation from Lagos Water for speedy solution.
She introduced the delegation to include Deputy Director Sector Reform, Mrs. A. K. Aina; a representative of the AGM Distribution,
Engr. A. Tolarin; Commercial Controller (North-LWC) Mr. Segun Oyedemi; Commercial Controller (South-LWC) Mrs. O. Odimayo; Asst. Chief Exc. Officer PIU Sector Reform, Mr. Awolowo Jones; CDC Chairman Surulere Local Govt, Mr. Adeyemi; Head Customer Services Surulere Area Manger, Engr Bimbo Onioye.
The workshop later broke up into three working groups for effective deliberations and came up with recommendations for action.
To them, there should be cash points at the Water Corporation's offices while payments should be on e-payment systems, while the introduction of community policing to deal with the issue of burst pipes be revisited. There must also be an effective monitoring of burst pipes by officials of LWC.
It was also resolved that the channels for the pipes should be deeper than what is obtainable now. On the mode of payments to the Corporation, Oyedemi said the E-payment is the most advisable means of payment and LWC is currently working in collaboration with some switching agencies such as Interswitch for more effective billing and accounting procedures.
He pointed out that this system reflects the cut-off date, date of payment and the time of payment and prepaid billing system helps regulate the flow of water just as is applicable in the GSM telecom services. "You can only have access to water once there is credit in your meter", he explained.
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