By Dahiru Suleiman, Dutse
A lump sum of N16billion has been expended by the Jigawa State Government from January 2015 to date on improvement of water supply to all the nooks and crannies of the state, the Permanent Secretary in the state’s Ministry of Water Resources, Engineer Nasiru B. Muhammad has stated.
Addressing a press conference in his office on the activities of the Ministry, Engineer Muhammad said the ministry’s commitments included restructuring of over 40,000 hand pumps; operations, servicing and maintenance of all the existing water points in the state.
Others were prompt payment of all counterpart monies between the state government and related partners and bodies in areas of water supply.
Similarly, the ministry under took maintenance and upgrading of large number of broken open wells to full fledged motorized boreholes in public buildings such as schools, general hospitals, among other public buildings to improve access to water supply.
On perennial water scarcity in Dutse, the state capital, Engineer Muhammad assured that with the provision of 19 satellite water points in most strategic locations in the metropolis, in addition to constant monitoring, reticulation and replacements of broken down pipes, among other urgent repairs effected, as well taking prompt action’s on any given complaints from consumers, the issue of water scarcity in the town will soon be over.
He shed more light on the Dutse Regional Water Scheme saying the gigantic project is ongoing, attaining 75 percent completion. When completed the huge capital project will cover almost all the needs of the inhabitants of Dutse.
In a related development, the Department of International Development (DFID) has presented the state government an award for commitments in the provision of water and good hygiene for the people.
Presenting the souvenir, the representative of DFID, Dr. Shehu Muhammad, said the gesture was in recognition of the state government’s effort in meeting eighty percent of its responsibility in providing citizens access to potable water.
