Lagos Water Corporation has partnered with WaterAid Nigeria and Armani Beauty to rehabilitate the Akilo Waterworks, initially built as part of a project to provide safe, treated water to the Ifako Agege area of Lagos.
The Akilo Waterworks was constructed in 2012 as one of the 18 micro waterworks in the state to provide safe and treated water to the residents of the Ifako Agege area of the state.
The facility has, however, been non-functional in recent times, with residents of the community lamenting the inaccessible potable water supply provided by the Lagos State Government.
The Guardian learnt that while this facility remained redundant, residents of the community and surrounding regions affected by this are forced to rely on privately installed boreholes, which some have to pay to access.
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Upon the completion of the rehabilitation, the Lagos Water Corporation assures the over 100,000 residents of the Ifako Agege area access to safe potable water through water kiosks and household connections.
According to the Managing Director of the Lagos Water Corporation, Muktaar Tijani, the rehabilitation will commence as soon as the contractor for the project, Rigmars Projects Limited, receives the part payment and will be completed within six months.
He further noted that the residents would have to pay to access it. This, he said, was to achieve sustainability.
Representatives of the Lagos Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, Lagos Water Regulatory Manager, Lagos State Waste Management Office, WaterAid Nigeria, as well as staff of the Lagos Water Corporation graced the official contract signing event.
In her remarks, the country director for WaterAidNigeria, Evelyn Mere, noted that the Akilo Waterworks rehabilitation is insufficient to guarantee steady service delivery.
“The reinstallation of the facility alone does not guarantee steady service delivery but a commitment to involving a management model in line with global heal practices to ensure that never again will the facility go out of operation. WaterAid Nigeria assures you of our support in this regard,” said Mere.
According to the 2021 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNORM) Survey, 45% of people in Lagos lack access to safely managed water, 75% lack access to safely managed sanitation, and 65% do not have access to hygiene services, while 34% drink contaminated water.
The WaterAid Nigeria country director expressed optimism that these statistics will significantly reduce.
The Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, Gaji Omobolaji, implored the contractor to deliver the project according to time and specification.
In his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of Rigmars Projects Limited, Nwankwo Chimechefolam, assured stakeholders that the project will be delivered according to the required standards and within the agreed timeframe.
