Obasanjo Raises Alarm, Warns Of Devastating Consequences Of Drilling Boreholes

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has shared his concern over the drilling of boreholes at home, warning that repercussions of such action could be devastating.

Speaking via a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, he lamented that the incessant construction of boreholes particularly in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, was as a result of failure of subsequent administrations to sustain the Oyan Dam project embarked on by his military administration in 1977.

He shared his concern over the situation when management and staff of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority led by the Managing Director, Adedeji Ashiru, visited him on the occasion of the World Water Day at the weekend.

The former President called for the elimination of waste of water resources, stressing that it would be impossible to achieve food sufficiency and security without effective water management.

He hinted that due to the failure of the dam project, the residents of Abeokuta embraced digging of boreholes everywhere to source for water, adding that this however comes with a repercussion that nobody for now may know how devastating it could be.

He said, “We cannot de-emphasise the importance or usefulness of water to human life and this why we do say water has no enemy.

“This was why as Military Head of State in 1977, I realised that strategic water management must be part of our food sufficiency drives, and food security and we created 11 River Basin including the Lake Chad.

“And what are we trying to achieve? If we have to only depend on rain fed agriculture, we shall definitely not get it right. Rain may come too early or too late, there may be droughts or flood all of which have telling effect on food production and security.

“So, the first thing to do as part of measure designed to achieve food security is effective management of water for agriculture. All of the river basins therefore have facilities for irrigation to ensure all year-round farming.”

Obasanjo said that the Oyan Dam was actually created to generate power and water for the residents of Ogun and Lagos State, but sadly, 48 years after, it has not lived up to the reasons why it was constructed.

The former President noted that the dam is said to have the capacity to generate 9 Megawatts, saying that if this dam could be made to generate such megawatts of electricity, it would have a profound impact in boosting power supply to the people and help reduce the challenge of inadequate power supply in the country.

“Oyan Dam was built to supply water for Abeokuta and Lagos, but it has been neglected and ignored just like the turbine for the power supply.

“The water supply is not there for Abeokuta, and we have rather continued to dig holes everywhere causing the water level to go down and down. That will have repercussions in the future, how long we shall have it I don’t know, but the geologist can do their job and tell us how fast that repercussions will come,” he said.