AS 2025 gradually slides towards the last quarter of the year, residents of Ogwashi-Uku metropolis have called on the state government to collaborate with the federal government towards the completion of the moribund Ogwashi-Uku water dam.
The appeal is coming on the heels of water scarcity normally faced by residents of the metropolis during the dry season.
Recall that the water dam project, which had spanned several decades was awarded during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
However, residents of the metropolis, while commenting on the state of the water dam, wondered why the project appeared abandoned.
A big-time farmer at Aboh-Ogwashi-Uku, James Okoye explained that the residents of the area have been waiting for the time the project would be completed.
“I have been farming in Aboh-Ogwashi-Uku here when the project was awarded. The way it started, if anyone had told me that the project several years after would still remain uncompleted, I would not believe it.
“But here we are, the project has remained as it were at the initial stage. Anyone who saw commitment that accompanied it when it started would have thought the project wouldn’t last more than few months and it would be completed.
“We have been told various stories about this project. Sometimes you will hear that the federal government is doing this on it.
“Another time you will hear that the state government has taken over the project. So much that as we are standing now, we don’t know who is doing what or, under whom the project now lies.
“If the project has been completed, I would have increased my agricultural program more than what I am having now. I would have expanded it ten times.
“That we cannot go into dry season farming is because we don’t have the irrigation that will water it. Ordinarily, there is nothing big about that.
“What we are saying now is, whoever is in charge should come forward and complete the project. It is for the good of everybody”, he said.
A resident of Ogwashi-Uku metropolis who simply identified himself as Kehinde explained that with the coming of the dry season, people are already budgeting for water.
“The tanker drivers makes mincemeat of us every year over water issue. Last year we bought a tanker for as much as N30, 000. This year no one knows what they will sell a tanker.
“Nobody regulates them and the tanker drivers themselves have no conscience about what they do.
“For me, I am commenting because I just have to. Otherwise, the truth remains that we have lost interest over the water dam issue.
“If government wants to complete it, let them do so, if they don’t want to complete it, so be it”, he stressed.
