The Enugu State Governor-elect, Peter Mbah, has promised to end perennial water scarcity within 180 days of being sworn-in as the governor of the state.
Mr Mbah stated this on Thursday in his acceptance speech as the governor-elect of the state. The in-coming governor posted a video clip of him making the speech on his verified Facebook page.
Pecohub reported that Mr Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was declared winner of the 18 March governorship election in the state on Wednesday night.
He polled a total of 160,895 votes to defeat his closest challenger, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, who scored 157,552 votes.
In the acceptance speech, hours after his declaration, Mr Mbah said when inaugurated, his administration would be in a hurry to carry out developmental projects across the state including solving the water scarcity problem.
“As we bring water to all homes in Enugu Metropolis in 180 days of our being sworn in, we shall bring water, in the shortest possible time, to Nsukka, Oji River, Udi, Awgu and others too,” he said.
“We shall frontally confront the infrastructural deficits in all parts of the state and no one will be left behind,” Mr Mbah stated.
Water scarcity in Enugu has been a recurring problem for decades despite huge financial investments in the sector by successive state governments and international organisations.
Authorities said the water scarcity was exacerbated by the topography of the state and the presence of coal deposits which frustrate efforts to build boreholes.
Efforts by the Enugu State Water Corporation, a state agency tasked with the responsibility of supplying water from Oji, Iva, Ninth Mile and Ajali Rivers to households in the state, have not been very successful due to recurring equipment breakdown.
As a result, residents rely largely on hand-dug wells for water, which usually dry up during the dry season. It worsens the scarcity yearly, usually between December and March in the state.
