The Jigawa State government says it will spend a whopping N5 billion in 12 months to supply water in its 27 LGAs in the State.
The Commissioner for Information, Youth, Sports and Culture, Alhaji Sagir Musa, gave the disclosure while briefing journalists at the end of the State Executive Council, SEC, meeting, on Friday in Dutse. The commissioner said the N5 billion will be expended in procuring AGO Diesel and other services to enhance access to portable water across the 27 LGAs in the state.
WikkiTimes learned that the approval was made after the state’s council executive meeting on Thursday. “In line with Governor Umar Namadi’s 12 Points Agenda efforts toward provision of portable drinking water across the state, the council has deliberated and approved a memorandum presented by the Ministry of Water Resources for the award of contract for the procurement of diesel, water treatment chemicals, services and lubricants across the 27 local government areas of the state’’, the commissioner said.
However, previous reporting done by WikkiTimes shows that the government does not keep its promises. For instance, in an exhaustive investigation, this medium in 2021, found that the government wasted over N6 Billion On Boreholes, that failed to supply water to residents across its LGAs.
The report documented how the State Ministry of Water Resources made a claim in a report that potable water supply has increased to 90 percent in the state after spending nearly N6 billion to build and rehabilitate boreholes. But the investigation by WikkiTimes found the claim to be untrue.
The story discovered that many of the residents still do not have access to potable water after the state government claimed that 3,556 new boreholes had been constructed and 2,295 others rehabilitated in communities across its 27 local government areas since 2015.
Similarly, a report published in 2022 found that at least 500 people out of 10,000 have died of Cholera in Jigawa State. Lack of potable water usually exacerbate cases related to Cholera deaths. The report also argues that the cholera deaths were despite the billions of naira the state government said it has invested in the healthcare sector, particularly primary healthcare.
