‘Peter Obi’s Borehole Project In Northern Nigeria Beneath Status’

Access to clean water and improved sanitation facilities is a daily challenge for many Nigerians, especially in northern Nigeria, where only 30 percent of the population can access safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.

Naija News learnt that many rural communities in northern Nigeria, facing the challenges of portable water supply, such as boreholes and wells, resort to streams and other unhygienic water sources to meet their needs.

Some northern states with water cooperation saddled with the responsibility of providing and supplying potable water are also faced with the challenge of reaching the teeming residents.

Hence, only a handful of communities can boast of potable water, as many rely on streams or other unhygienic sources, which make them prone to cholera.

According to a report published by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) in May 2023, 57% of the cumulative suspected cases of cholera were reported in Bauchi (19,452), Kano (12,116), Zamfara (11,100) and Jigawa (10,763).

To address the water supply challenge in the North, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, during his Ramadam tour, drilled and donated boreholes to some northern communities, including Plateau, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Zaria, Kaduna State, and others.

However, a project expected to alleviate the suffering of those communities drew adverse reactions because some people claimed it had poor aesthetics.

Nollywood actor, cum politician, Tonto Dikeh, in a post via Instagram, expressed disappointment at Peter Obi’s gestures, stating that many Nigerians trusted him to take the country to the next level, but that the borehole project was disheartening.

She noted that Peter Obi remains her favourite politician, but she is unsatisfied with boreholes donated to Northern communities.

Similarly, the Arewa Renaissance Group strongly criticized Peter Obi for the gesture and warned against the construction of substandard boreholes in the region.

The group expressed dissatisfaction with the project, particularly highlighting that Peter Obi had inscribed his name on the borehole, indicating that he was responsible for its construction.

The group said, “The borehole Peter Obi installed in our community is an eyesore. Furthermore, his act of inscribing his name on the project is an insult. If Peter Obi believes that such an unkind gesture and substandard project can win the hearts of Northerners, then he must be joking.

“We are not people to be used to advance his dying political career. We can see through his charades, and when the time is right, we will demonstrate to Peter Obi that we are not people to be toiled with.”

In an exclusive interview with Naija News, a former Governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Segun Showunmi, commended Peter Obi for the project but expressed some reservations with how the former Governor of Anambra state is playing politics.

According to Showunmi, the borehole project is beneath Peter Obi’s status, stressing that such projects require intentionality and appropriate design.

The PDP chieftain added that Peter Obi should focus more on fixing his party instead of engaging in a ‘one-man’ show of project in the north.

He said, “I understand what Peter Obi is trying to do, even if not for anything. I can commend him, but I have serious issues with how he would think that playing to the gallery will get him the required number in 2027 election that is three years down the line. I think that what any serious-minded politician should be doing is currently fixing his party, rewriting and redesigning. I don’t think that one man should be doing a one-man riot squad, and at the end of the day, it will not even work.

“So whether Peter Obi wants to increase his love in the north, I wish him well, but I think the one-man show he is going about doing will bring him misery. He should understand that national politics will not pay that way. People think that wanting to be president is ambition, but it is supposed to be a calling, so the issue you are going to focus on are things that your mind is gazing at, even if you are sleeping.

“The borehole project is beneath his own status, doing something like that requires intentionality, he can sit with consultants, design how each borehole will look like, take locations and spread it and not just put up a GP tank and write your name on it that you have done something, the projects is like a joke.”

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