The Okpala-Uku-in- Council of Ashaka in Ndokwa-East LGA and the leadership of the Association of Table Water Producers of Nigeria (ATWAN), Kwale zone, are not in one accord over the move by the latter to stop table water producers outside the zone which comprises the whole of Ndokwa East and Ndokwa West LGAs, from coming to sell.
The leadership of ATWAN has been moving from place to place within its jurisdiction to solicit the support of the communities in their quest to ensure that only water producers registered with them are permitted to sell. Speaking on behalf of ATWAN, one of the producers and one time chairman of Ndokwa-East LGA, Hon(Chief) Tony Uti,during a courtesy visit to the Okpala-Uku, said some water producers come all the way from Asaba and other places to sell water. Uti said this was wrong because the law permits a producer to do so only where he is registered.
He pleaded with the community to help drive away any producer not registered under Kwale Zone. He narrated an experience he had when his workers drove to a nearby Isoko community to sell and his truck was smashed because he wasn’t registered with them. According to him, none of them in Kwale zone can sell even at Amai, let alone Obiaruku, because communities in Ukwuani LGA are are in Eku zone.
Reacting, Chief Patrick Ogeleka, thanked Tony Uti for coming to identify with the palace. However, he said the request will be difficult to grant because the producers outside Kwale zone sell at a cheaper rate. He wondered why those in Kwale zone chose to be so profit conscious as against what obtains elsewhere. He enjoined ATWAN, Kwale zone, to review their charge downwards before they will get the community’s support and that until that is done, no producer, no matter where their factory is located, will be disturbed so long as the price remains reasonable.
