Redeployment Of Felix Akhabue From Ministry of Works To Water Resources; Matters Arising

BY CHRIS AKHABUE , Edo 

The redeployment of Felix Akhabue (aka Joefel) last week from the Ministry of Works to the Water Resources Ministry by the Edo State governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, was greeted with mixed reactions.

While it was perceived by some as a way of forcing him to resign instead of being edged out through outright sack, others see it as a blessing in disguise.

Though the actual reason for his redeployment remains shrouded in the realm of speculation, it may not be unconnected with what some observers perceived as his alleged discontentment with unrestricted interference by state actors and powerful politicians in the administration of the Ministry, leaving the presiding Commissioner who ought to be in charge as a mere spectator.

To some, the redeployment of Felix Akhabue from the Ministry , a more " juicy" portfolio, to a "near non-existent" Ministry of Water Resources, where there won't be much "interference by state actors and politicians" because there is nothing there to interfere with" is a welcome development for Hon. Felix Akhabue, to the governor himself and to the entire people of Edo Central Senatorial districts where the two are from. 

To any modern society and government desirous of sustainable good life for its citizens, these ministries; Works, Housing and Water Resources are essentially strategic as they are enabling ministries that deserve premium attention because of its strategic importance to the development of the society and the well-being of the people.

 This is not suggesting that other ministries are not relevant. For instance, before an individual even thinks of education, he or she needs water to survive, live in a house and go through a road to the school, and so, strengthening these institutions and positioning competent individuals to manage them is imperatively non- negotiable.

 It is in the light of the above that anyone who finds his or herself in this position of authority should handle it with utmost diligence and give it the best shot to make an indelible mark in the sand of time.

It is a well known fact that one of the primary perennially afflictives and excruciating malaise of the people of Edo Central is the non availability of portable water.

 In many parts of Nigeria, access to safe water remains a fundamental developmental challenge. Nowhere is this crisis more poignantly felt than in Edo Central, where the chronic non-availability of clean water has, for decades, constituted a perennially afflictive and deeply agonizing despondency for community dwellers.

The issue transcends mere inconvenience; it is a structural deficiency with far-reaching implications for health, dignity, productivity, and social stability.

The potable water crisis in Edo Central is not incidental. For years, critical infrastructure such as the Ugboha Water Supply Scheme remained moribund due to successive government's criminal negligence and also partly due to outright cluelessness, which has created a vacuum in public water provision, forcing residents to resort to unsafe and unreliable alternatives such as streams, rivers, and shallow wells.

Aside the exposure of residents of the area to a spectrum of waterborne diseases, residents often pay exorbitant prices for water delivered by private tanker operators at the cost of up to ₦55, 000: 00 per tanker of about 33, 000 liters of unsafe water.

Coincidentally, the redeployed Commissioner, Mr Felix Akhabue and the governor Senator Monday Okpebholo, are both from the same Edo Central Senatorial District and it is a well known fact that the predominant problem of water scarcity has been the bane of societal cohesion of the district. And again, both are of the same All Progressives Congress (APC), strategesing to return the incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the seat of power for a second tenure with a promise of 3.5 million votes to actualize the emergence of this dream come 2027.

As it were presently, the Edo State government of Senator Monday Okpebholo has demonstrated commitments to urban and rural infrastructural upgrades in healthcare, education, roads and bridges, etc. This is therefore a pointer to the fact that those ministries are functionally providing the essential social services for which they were created. If they could achieve their objectives for their establishment, the Ministry of Water Resources should be able to supply water to quench the thirst for water of Edo people. 

It would, therefore, be instructive to advise the government of Senator Monday Okpebholo and his Commissioner for Water Resources, Felix Akhabue to put heads together to initiate sustainable modalities to make the Ministry of Water Resources live up to its billings and make water available for the people of Edo State so as to 

 mitigate the seemingly intractable water scarcity in Edo Central and other districts of the state as it is not insurmountable because achieving that feat of unfettered water supply to Edo people would guarantee the maximum Edo votes for the re-election bid of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and of Senator Monday Okpebholo.