‘Moribund Akwa Ibom Water Company to be Resuscitated’
By Dennis Udoma, Uyo
The Moribund Akwa Ibom Water Company is to be resuscitated, if assurances of the State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno is anything to go by.
The Managing Director/CEO of the Company, Engr. Edo Bassey Etuk made the disclosure while interacting with newsmen in his office.
He said the company would come on stream in the provision of potable water to the residents in Uyo metropolis and its environs.
He added that Governor Eno is committed to optimal water supply in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which demands that government at all levels should provide water that is potable, accessible, adequate and affordable to the people.
According to him, the “Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation was created to be a stand alone Ministry. That speaks volume of the intention of His Excellency Governor Umo Eno to ensure that we are in sync with partners at the subnational, national and even globally.
“Till tomorrow our water is adjudged the best. We hear people talk about that they don’t depend on any other source of water except ours. We will bounce back in terms of strengthening our service delivery.
“Akwa Ibom Water Company has the mandate of providing water to semi-urban and urban areas. And we have 29 headworks, I mean stations that supply water. The culmulative capacity, installed capacity of all these stations is about 200,000 cubic metres.
“We have 29 headworks across 15 local governments of the state. We have in places like Eket, Itu, Obio Etoi, State Secretariat, Ewet Housing, Ikot Abasi, ONNA. Unfortunately, the infrastructure in these places have broken down over a long period because these were established since 2001, and decay has set in.
“But we are making efforts to see how we can replace those pipes that have been destroyed in different locations. And then of course the equipment at the stations some of them have to be tinkered with and all of that.
“So for us as a company what we are doing now is to see how we can put those stations back on track first. What people are looking for is good service, but let them be a little patient because changes are going to come very soon.
“We are expecting intervention which will not be too long from now. So we are very hopeful,” he said.
Engr. Etuk who noted that water company has been engaging with relevant stakeholders, expressed optimism in achieving optimal water supply in the state very soon.
“The fact that we are still trying to see how we can rebuild our broken infrastructure, that also does not mean our product is substandard in terms of the water quality we produce.
“We have had engagement with the Budget Office, Governor’s office, our parent ministry, even the Ministry of Economic Development, so the conversations are on. We are relating with other government agencies. In the last few years we have had cause to sit with them to agree on a format to see how we can maintain our infrastructure without destroying them.
“Take for instance, it’s not because we want to do road we lose our pipes, we have had engagement with State Ministry of Works and our parent ministry and various stakeholders [contractors] to see how we can find best way in improving our infrastructure without losing resources anyhow.
“And I am very optimistic that in no time changes will take place. When we get the infrastructure fixed, of which the conversation is ongoing, maybe in the next few weeks, some major things will start taking place because there are plans in the 2025 budget, he noted.
The water company was established by the administration of Obong Victor Attah but, malfunctioned after successive governments took over making water supply to residents of Uyo sloppy and sometimes unavailable.
