No fewer than 37 various water projects abandoned by previous administrations have been completed by the present administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, has disclosed.
Mrs. Ochekpe, who spoke on Tuesday while featuring at the 2014 ministerial platform organised by the Ministry of information, said her ministry was able to complete 37 dams with the support of President Jonathan.
She said the ministry of water resources has however not been able to embark on new water projects in compliance with the presidential directive that all abandoned projects must be completed before new ones are initiated.
The minister recalled that a presidential committee that monitored all government projects in 2010 and headed by Arc Ibrahim Bubu, had reported that the ministry of water resources had the highest number of abandoned projects among the MDAs.
“To sustain the achievements in the water sector, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan needs to be allowed to seek second chance as stipulated by the Constitution come 2015,” she canvassed.
Mrs. Ochekpe noted that her ministry’s scope of work was wide, saying “Even if the whole budget of the federation was to be allocated to the ministry, it cannot complete all the ongoing projects in the ministry”.
The minister also revealed that the World Bank has so far spent $650 million to boost Nigeria’s water sector between 2001 and 2014.
In the same vein, the European Union, she noted has spent N76 billion in the water sector in 14 states of the federation.
She thanked the international donor agencies like the European Union, World Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for partnering with her ministry in the area of financial assistance and supply of expertise.
Goodwill messages were delivered by the representatives of the World Bank, European Union among others.
The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, who anchored the briefing, was also full of praises for President Jonathan, saying lots of projects are being done to transform all the critical sector of the nation’s economy.
He also joined his water resources counterpart in saying that the only way to guarantee the sustenance of the various ongoing projects is to ensure continuity by allowing the President to carry on beyond 2015.
The ministerial platform is organised annually by the Ministry of Information for ministers to present their scorecards to Nigerians through the media.