Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has raised an alarm against water borehole drillings at homes, declaring that repercussions of such action could be devastating.
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He lamented that the incessant construction of boreholes particularly in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, was as a result of failure of subsequent administrations to sustain the Oyan Dam project embarked on by his military administration in 1977.
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, the former president gave this warning when management and staff of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority led by the Managing Director, Adedeji Ashiru, visited him on the occasion of the World Water Day at the weekend.
The former President called for elimination of wastages of water resources, stressing that it would be impossible to achieve food sufficiency and security without effective water management.
He hinted that due to the failure of the dam project, the residents of Abeokuta embraced digging of boreholes everywhere to source for water, adding that this however comes with a repercussion that nobody for now may know how devastating it could be.
“We cannot de-emphasise the importance or usefulness of water to human life and this why we do say water has no enemy,” he said.
“This was why as Military Head of State in 1977, I realised that strategic water management must be part of our food sufficiency drives, and food security and we created 11 River Basin including the Lake Chad.
“And what are we trying to achieve? If we have to only depend on rain fed agriculture, we shall definitely not get it right. Rain may come too early or too late, there may be droughts or flood all of which have telling effect on food production and security.
“So, the first thing to do as part of measure designed to achieve food security is effective management of water for agriculture. All of the river basins therefore have facilities for irrigation to ensure all year-round farming.”
Obasanjo said that the Oyan Dam was actually created to generate power and water for the residents of Ogun and Lagos State, but sadly, 48 years after it has not lived up to the reasons why it was constructed.