WHEN THE TAP RUNS DRY: Rethinking Ogun’s Water Problem – Ogun Deserves a Better Answer to Water -By Lekan Odunlami, Esq. 

Water is life. We say it so often that we sometimes forget how true it is. We can manage for a few hours without electricity. We can postpone buying new clothes. We can even adjust when money is short. But nobody can live without water. We need it to drink, cook, bathe, wash and keep our surroundings clean.

For Yayi, this is the kind of problem public service should solve. Having devoted almost all his adult life to public service, from the State House of Assembly to the House of Representatives and the Senate, he understands how government can turn a good idea into something that works for the people.

His experience also shows that providing water is not just about drilling boreholes. It requires planning, proper funding, maintenance and accountability. These are the practical steps needed to make clean water available and keep it flowing.

Yet, in the 21st century, many of our people still struggle every day to get clean water. In some communities in Ogun State, people still go to streams and rivers to fetch water. Women and children sometimes walk long distances carrying buckets and containers. Some wake up very early because getting water has become part of the daily struggle.

Think about that for a moment. Today, a person sitting in Ogun State can use a mobile phone to send money to somebody thousands of kilometres away within seconds. We can speak face-to-face with relatives abroad on our phones. Yet, somewhere in the same state, a child may spend part of the morning walking to a stream to fetch water before going to school.

That should concern all of us. This is not about blaming anybody. The water problem did not start today. Ogun State is also growing very fast. New communities are springing up. Houses are being built. Industries are expanding. Our population is increasing.

As the state grows, the demand for water grows with it. The real question, therefore, is not who to blame. The question is: how do we solve the problem. The first step should not be another announcement that thousands of boreholes will be drilled. Before spending more public money, we should first know what we already have.

How many public boreholes and water facilities exist across Ogun State? How many are working? How many have stopped working? Why did they stop? Which communities still depend heavily on wells, streams, rivers and water vendors?

A proper assessment can give us these answers. Sometimes the solution may be surprisingly simple. A community may already have a borehole, but the pump has been damaged for two years. Another may have a water facility requiring repairs rather than complete replacement.

Why abandon what we already paid for and spend millions building another one. Repair before replacing. That should become an important principle in the management of public infrastructure.

We must also understand that one solution cannot work everywhere. A large town may need existing waterworks repaired, expanded and connected to more communities. A smaller town may need a community water scheme. In some rural areas, solar-powered boreholes with storage tanks and properly located public water points may provide a more practical solution.

The solution must follow the problem. This is where the kind of practical thinking associated with Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, becomes important. The starting point should always be to understand what the people actually need, identify what government already has and then determine the most sensible way of closing the gap. But there is another important issue. Who repairs the water facility when it breaks down? This is where we often get things wrong.

Building a borehole is relatively easy. Commissioning it is even easier. People gather. Speeches are made. Photographs are taken. The ribbon is cut and everybody goes home. But what happens two or three years later when the pump stops working?

That is the real test of government. Ogun needs a proper maintenance system for public water facilities. The state can be divided into maintenance zones, with trained technicians responsible for facilities within particular areas. Each public water point can have a simple identification number. If it stops working, residents should be able to report it through a telephone line or even WhatsApp.

Imagine a message as simple as: “Water Point 125 – pump not working.” The complaint is recorded. A technician is assigned. The problem is inspected and the repair is followed up. We already use our phones for banking, shopping, business and communication. Surely, we can use the same simple technology to help keep public water flowing.

We must also change the way we measure success. We often hear that government has constructed 50, 100 or 500 boreholes. That sounds impressive. But there is another question we should start asking: How many of them are still working three years later?

That is a better measure of success. The achievement should not simply be the number of boreholes commissioned. It should be the number of people who continue to have access to clean and safe water. And the word clean matters.

Providing water is not enough if that water can make people sick. Public water sources should therefore be tested regularly. Clean water is not only an infrastructure issue; it is also a public health issue.
None of this requires us to make another impossible political promise. Nobody should tell the people of Ogun that one individual can wave a magic wand and suddenly put running water in every home.

But government can certainly plan better. We can identify communities with the greatest need. We can repair useful facilities that have been abandoned. We can expand existing water systems where that makes sense. We can use solar-powered systems where they are suitable. We can involve communities in protecting public facilities.

And, most importantly, we can maintain what we build. This is the kind of practical conversation Yayi believes Ogun should be having. Because development is not always about the biggest building, the longest bridge or the most expensive project. Sometimes development is simply about ordinary things working.
A mother should be able to get clean water without spending hours searching for it. A child should be preparing for school in the morning, not walking a long distance carrying a container of water.

Our elderly people should not have to depend on someone going to a stream before they can have water at home. And communities should not have to depend entirely on the generosity of one private individual who drills a borehole and allows everybody to fetch water.

We are in the 21st century. Surely, we can do better. Perhaps it is time we stopped asking how many boreholes were commissioned and started asking a much more important question: When the people need clean water, does the water flow? That is the question that matters. And that is the standard by which progress should be measured.

Yayi’s long years of public service give him the experience to help turn this idea into reality. Not through another big promise, but through careful planning, proper implementation and a system that works. For the people of Ogun, the real achievement will be simple: when they need clean water, the water should flow.
Michael Lekan Odunlami, Esq. is a legal practitioner based in Lagos.

He writes on public affairs, governance and politics, with particular interest in Ogun State politics and issues affecting the everyday lives of the people. He can be reached at:  lekan@hotmail.com.