I’m Surprised 57 Abia Water Schemes Couldn‘t Function – Official

A senior principal officer with the Abia State Water Board, Samuel Ogbonna, has said he is surprised that 57 water schemes in the state couldn’t function during the past administration.

Ogbonna expressed his feelings when he appeared before the state’s Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the Recovery of Government Properties and Funds in Umuahia, the state capital.

The officer noted that during the period, several interventions were made by international donor agencies, and the administration paid counterpart funds for the schemes.

He alleged that two of the board’s Hilux vehicles are currently in the custody of the former general manager, while another is with the former senior special assistant to the past governor on the rural water scheme.

According to him, the former general manager took delivery of prepared metres donated by the World Bank and USAID to the board, which the general manager has yet to account for.

Similarly, Charity Ukonu, a former member of the state Salary Verification Committee, and Nnebuihe Onwusoro, the former head of Accounts of the State Environmental Protection Agency, have appeared before the panel.

They were summoned following a petition brought before the panel by some disengaged staff of the agency since 2015, led by Paul Okoli Tobechukwu.

Meanwhile, the panel set up by the present administration in 2023 and headed by Justice Florence Duruoha-Igwe (Rtd) adjourned both matters to later dates for further hearing.