Oyo State Solicits Support from World Bank on Water Supply

The Oyo State Government has called for the World Bank’s investment in its bid to achieve universal access to safe drinking water and mitigate the effects of climate change.

The Executive Chairman, Oyo State Water Corporation, Elias Adeojo, made the call during a meeting with some officials of the Bank at the Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project (IUFMP) Office, Ikolaba, Ibadan.

A statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, quotes Adeojo as saying the Oyo State government was investing strategically in building safe drinking water systems by not only increasing funding, but also putting in capacities to plan, coordinate, and regulate service provision.

He revealed that the provision of potable water is capital intensive but not profit oriented, as the Corporation cannot charge the consumers for production cost.

Adeojo stated: “The Oyo State Government has invested heavily in water facilities across the state but still requires external support like grants from the World Bank.”

He stressed that power, being a major factor that drives the Corporation’s facilities, had been at lower ebbs and needed to be alternated with hydropower, disclosing that a new technology known as hydrogen power, which could also be sold for the sustainability of the Corporation, would be introduced.

Adeojo said the new policy would aid the Corporation especially as the delisting of power generation from the exclusive list of the Federal Government was in the pipeline.

In their separate responses, Mr Francis Nkoka, the Task Team leader for IUFMP World Bank Office, Malawi and Mr Tochi Sinoda, World Bank Office, Washington DC, promised to assess the requests of the Oyo State Government on potable water, stressing that the issue of tackling flood in the state was germane to the residents of the state.

The duo then called on the Management of the Corporation on the need to form a synergy between the state Ministry of Environment and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to make the fight against the scourge of flood in the state successful.

Present at the meeting were top officials of the Oyo State Water Corporation, officials from IUFMP and World Bank officials.