The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke has been reminded that his plan to sink a borehole in each of the 332 wards across the state is an unprogressive step.
This is as he has been advised to prioritize the issue of security in relation to election violence and ensure stricter coordination of the newly introduced transport management system in the state.
This advice was given by The Osun Masterminds, an Osun-based civil society organization during a press conference in Osogbo on Friday.
Governor Adeleke had announced that his administration planned to sink 332 boreholes ahead of his 100 days in office.
While addressing Journalists, Prof. Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli who is the Executive Director of the group stated that the group had after going through the announcement by the Adeleke administration added that it was concerned that the state government preferred to sink boreholes rather than looking for other sustainable means of proving potable water for the state’s populace.
Oyedokun-Alli held that the step was a populist one but that a more long-term solution should have been an option the state government could have considered.
“In trying to pursue a comprehensive water supply policy, the Governor is not supposed to take populist steps such as the sinking of boreholes at this time in history, but look more at water supply solutions that are more comprehensive and more relevant on the long term.
“There is the pending Ilesa water project. There is also the abandoned mini-water scheme of the Oyinlola administration. There are also the abandoned mini-water projects of the Federal lawmakers that represented Osun between 2011 and 2015. Those projects are more comprehensive and provide more practical solutions to the water supply problems in the State.
“We also dare say that it is demeaning and when considered carefully, unhealthy to sink public boreholes that community people will walk long distances to access. We can find more pragmatic solutions to the water supply problem without resorting to primitive and populist approaches that do not guarantee water supply in the long run.
“The State is also not supposed to abandon projects on which several billions have been spent in the past, for such non-pragmatic projects like boreholes.”
The group also called the attention of the state government to the growing spate of insecurity in the state, rising cases of kidnapping, abductions and election-related violence.
It urged the state government to urgently re-engineer the state’s security policy with a view to putting security agents on their toes.
The group also asked the Governor to act with dispatch to disallow Osun under his watch, from becoming an unsafe state.
This they said would ensure the security and safety of lives and properties.
The group also advised the state government to ensure stricter coordination of the transport management system that was just introduced. They held that doing so would prevent rivalry among the old unions.
“The transport management system must not be allowed to become a tool in the hands of unscrupulous elements that they will use to throw the State into crisis. Osun cannot afford any reintroduction of thuggery, cultism and hooliganism in the name of Transport Management.”
The state government was also advised to take more futuristic steps as the goal of government is supposed to be the long-term security of the livelihoods of citizens and not short-term applause.
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