It is uncharitable, wicked and unfair to say former governor of Osun state Rauf Aregbesola, who attracted unprecedented huge sum of money (107 million dollars) to solve a lifetime challenge of his people in Ijesaland, has not done anything for them.
Dr. Wale Bolorunduro, Former Commissioner for Finance in the state stated this while reacting to some political critics who downplay the role played by the former governor to keep the multi million dollars Ilesa water project afloat in spite of the seemingly financial challenges and technical difficulties attached to it.
Dr Bolorunduro premised Aregbesola’s intervention on the Macedonian call from the Owa Obokun, oba Dr. Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran II during the 2012 Iwude Ijesa, when His Imperial Majesty lamented over the inability of Ijesas to access public water supply for the past three decades.
According to him, Aregbesola went to work after assessing the problems and possible solutions.
He said His (Aregbesola’s) administration’ has inherited a Federal Government project for the construction of a weir on Osun River and intake structure at Kajolla which was initially awarded in 2006 and by 2009, the contract has been abandoned already.
The former commissioner maintained that though, the project is an asset, but would have been a liability, creating such pond of water without utilizing it if it had been completed without transmission and the distribution networks that take water to the doorsteps of Ijesa people.
He revealed that the peak funding requirement would be over One hundred million dollars, by using the exchange rate of 306 naira to a dollars; it would be over 30 billion Naira, stressing that this amount was half of the total annual revenue of the state, at the peak year of his tenure. “The funding has to be a grant or almost free. Unfortunately there is no free money anywhere. In any productive sector, the maximum equity that such project can attract will be 30 percent, while others (70 percent) would have to be debt and such debt, in public finance, would have to be concessional, long term and at low interest rate. In dollar term, it was also huge considering the fact that the external loan portfolio of Osun as at 2014 was about $100 million dollars, so the inclusion of ilesa water scheme means doubling the external loan portfolio by Aregbesola for his people of Ijesaland.”
Dr Bolorunduro averred that this made Aregbesola to look inward and to solicit for support from the Federal Government of Nigeria on the 7th February, 2018. The amount was unprecedented and the purpose being the last mile developmental need, usually abandoned for the states. To the Glory of God, his request for support of $41.9 million was granted by President Muhammed Buhari on 30th April, 2018. Based on the approval of Mr. President, the flag – off of the Ilesa Water Supply Distribution Project became a reality. This was the biggest singular grant or a federal budget attraction to any state in 2018 and to the state of Osun since its creation in 1991. It was not a budget, but a cash in bank, kept with Central Bank of Nigeria and as US Dollars, while Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) in Jeddah loaned the state 65 million dollars
“Having secured the funding, it is important to appraise the implementation and construction works so far, personally, I have seen a distribution pipes passed through the front of my house in ilesa and I pray it gets to my ancestral home in Ere Ijesa and more importantly, I pray and I decree, I will drink this pipe borne clean water by next year. After securing the IsDB facility, the procurement process for consultancy and contracting followed with their own timelines. The first phase of the project is the TRANSMISSION MAIN, BOOSTER PUMP STATION AND THE RESERVOIRS. This was awarded in June 7, 2017 and was flagged-off on December 18, 2017 at Osun Ankara , Irojo, Ilesa. The second phase is the treatment plant, which the Is scheduled deliberately to start in October 2018 to allow the first phase to have reached substantial stage.
The third phase is the distribution network. The funding for this came in some weeks to the exit of from office. As a matter of fact, the money was brought in November 2018, although it was approved on April 30,2018 by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The distribution network phase is also progressing very well. In general, the projects have been progressing steadily. The only initial challenge on the implementation of the projects to date is the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of which is universal. The state government of Osun recently, during the presentation of 2022 budget, made a remark on the Ilesa water scheme and promised that its construction works will be completed by next year. Let us continue to hold them responsible on this and hope they will also curb the mining activities at the upstream sites of the water pond and the adjoining rivers so that sufficient water can get to the water intake as designed, initially for the benefits of Ijesaland” he said.
Edited by Isaac Haastrup
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