RIVERS STATE GOVERNMENT EXPRESSES READINESS TO PARTNER STAKEHOLDERS IN WATER INDUSTRY.

Rivers State government has expressed readiness to partner stakeholders in the water industry to ensure safe water and healthy lives for residents of the state in line with the New Rivers Vision blue print.

Commissioner for Water Resources and Rural Development, Dr. Tamunosisi Gogo Jaja who stated this at the end of a three-day Stakeholder’s Forum on Water Management and Regulation Organized by his Ministry in Port Harcourt said government would also ensure the regulation of activities of borehole drillers to engender sanity in the water sector.

Dr Gogo jaja said statistics had it that consumption of contaminated water accounted for stunted growth and dull brain, and urged residents of the state to stop patronizing unqualified and inexperienced borehole drillers to avoid consuming contaminated water that would result in water borne  diseases in the state.

The State Water Resources and Rural Development Commissioner averred that every borehole engineer must be licensed by the state government through the Ministry to engender professionalism in the water sector.

He said the registration of all water business owners with the state government through the Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development was not for taxation contrary to speculation but to regulate the sector in line with international standard as applicable in other countries.

Earlier the State Coordinator of the Standard Organization of Nigeria in charge of Rivers and Bayelsa States Samuel Ayuba disclosed that SON had set up a Standard Organization of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme to scrutinize all imported products in the country.

 Ayuba who urged stakeholders in the water industry to partner government and Standard Organization of Nigeria to rid the sector of quakes, commended Doctor Tamunosisi Gogo Jaja for the programme.

Radio Rivers Correspondent Francis Golden reports that the General Managers and Chief Executive Officers of the various water companies operating in Rivers State graced the event which featured paper presentation.