3,000 water points constructed in Cross River –Commissioner

This followed privatisation of the state water board and collaboration with many local and international organsations, including the World Bank, to ensure that the citizens have clean water.
The Commissioner of Water Resources, Engr Elemi Etowa, told the media, last week, that about 2, 824 homes and communities were now benefiting from the water points which the government has constructed.
“This was as at 2013. We are presently updating the inventory. I am almost certain that the number will go up because this year the plan is to actually ensure that as many homes and communities as possible get access to clean and safe water”, he said.
Similarly, Mr Godwin Akwagiobe, the State Water Project Engineer, confirmed that some 86 communities in the state have also benefited from the N12.5 billion water supply project sponsored by the state government in collaboration with the World Bank and First Bank (Nigeria) Plc.
Speaking with journalists, weekend, in Ikom, Cross River State, Akwagiobe said the beneficiaries included 16 communities in Okpoma, Yala, 20 in Obubra, 14 in Itigidi Phase II, 12 in Obubra, 13 in Ogoja, nine in Ikom, two in Ikom Phase II, and one in Itigidi Phase I.
He said 60 per cent of the people in the state have access to water following the government’s deliberate effort.
Reacting to the claim made by the government, a local chief in Adim, Biase LGA Chief Cornelius Ogban Kanu said his community was yet to benefit from such gesture, hoping that the gesture will be extended to them.
But Mrs. Martina Odey, a civil servant in Ogoja, said: “This is a wonderful project for us. For years we have stayed without water and our people fetched from bore holes and other sources.”