NDC Candidate Asks Otti, Others To Fix 40-year-old Water Scheme

Nigeria Democratic Congress, (NDC) candidate for Abia North, Uko Nkole, has challenged Abia State governor, Dr Alex Otti and two members of the National Assembly (NASS) from the state to rehabilitate the 40-year-old abandoned Akanu Ohafia Water Scheme.

The members are Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North), a former governor of the state, and Ibe Okwara Osonwa (Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP), respectively.

Nkole, who represented the constituency from 2011 to 2019, stated this in an interview with LEADERSHIP at his country home in Ozu Abam, Arochukwu local government area.

He said the scheme has a capacity of over 400,000 cubic metres and was built by the military administration of Allison Madueke in 1986 under the then Imo State government, but was abandoned.

According to the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker, the scheme was not only the largest in the district but also, perhaps, among the biggest in Imo State.

Nkole explained that during his tenure at the House of Representatives, he facilitated the revamp of the scheme, culminating in the commencement of water reticulation.

He said, “I facilitated about 100 KVA solar farm that was lifting the water and reticulating to the communities. The people were already getting water in their houses.

“Unfortunately, that project, has become moribund. The challenge now is that the solar farms have been struck by lightning. The act that incapacitated the ability of the solar farms to supply power to the high-lift farms.

So, that one is there. The second leg is that the reticulation phase has also stopped. ‎ ‎”On the part of the state government, I want to use this medium to speak to the governor, the senator, and the House member that the project is very, very important. ‎

‎”I want to ask that His Excellency, Governor Otti, should send his relevant agencies and relevant officers to go and revisit the scheme. So that the people can have water again.” ‎ ‎

He said his chances of winning the election are very bright because, as a member of the House, he had attracted democracy dividends to every nook and cranny of the constituency. ‎

‎”I know I would do better than my opponents because I have the experience. I have 12 years of experience in the Federal Civil Service and eight years in the National Assembly, which none of them has. ‎

‎”And I make bold to say that my footprints in Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency have been unmatched, both by my predecessors and also my successor,” ‎he said.