WaterAid and Lagos State Water Corporation (LASWARCO) have inked a deal to restore the abandoned Akilo Micro Waterworks project so that people in the Ifako-Ijaiye region can receive portable water.
The project was first built in 2012 as one of the 18 mini waterworks in Lagos, aided by WaterAide and supported by Armani Beauty.
On Thursday, February 13, 2025, the contract signing and awards event was held in the company’s Ijora office and was attended by representatives from the Lagos State Waste Management Office, the Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission, and the Lagos Ministry of Environment and Water Resources.
When the facility is finished, it would service more than 100,000 families in the area, according to Mukhtaar Tijani, Managing Director of Lagos Water Corporation, who signed the deal.
He said that the project will be finished in six months and that Rigmars Projects Limited, the contractor, will move to the site as soon as a portion of the payment is received.
The prospect of implementing the project through the joint efforts of WaterAid and LASWARCO was carefully examined “from the technical assessment to the finalization of the procurement process,” according to Evelyn Mere, the Country Director of WaterAid Nigeria, who also spoke at the occasion.
Mere emphasized the significance of clean drinking water, that roughly 90% of deaths caused by diarrheal diseases are linked to unsafe water, poor sanitation, and hygiene and the huge burden of lack of access to safely managed water, sanitation, and hygiene services impacts heavily on health.
In addition, she also said, “WaterAid is making a strategic shift to interventions that serve large groups of people. Hence, this contract signing, and awards event is enabling us achieve this strategic objective.”
Nwankwo Chimechefolam, the managing director of Rigmars Projects Limited, thanked WaterAid and LASWARCO for the chance to work on the project and gave them his word that it would be completed on schedule and with high quality.