The Kano State government has announced its intention to regulate the retail price of water sold to the public across the state.
In a meeting yesterday with the association of water truck owners in Kano, the commissioner for water resources, Umar Doguwa, stated that the government would no longer accept irregular water prices across the state.
“We have observed that the retail price of water across the state is irregular, with water vendors setting prices at will.
“Someone will come selling water in the morning and will sell one jerry can in the morning at N100 and later in the evening he will say it is N200 just like that without any reason.
“This will have to stop. We now want to have a standard price. If you are selling one jerry can for N10, it has to be N10 everywhere across the metropolis. This is what we are doing now.
“In this process, we are going to consider everybody. We will consider the owners of the boreholes, the water truck drivers and the street vendors as well.
“We want the system to be dressed up such that the members of the public will not be exploited in any way.
“We shall meet with all stakeholders involved, including the amalgamated union of borehole owners and the street water vendors to standardise the rates.
“We will give them a seven-day ultimatum to agree and come back to us on the rates at each of the levels, from the wholesale level to the retail level.
“We want to alleviate the suffering of our people, you can’t just be selling such an important resource to the public and be exploiting them unnecessarily because they are in need.
“Water resources belong to the state, the government cannot look the other way and watch people suffering in the hands of some individuals,” he stated.
In his response, Abdussalam Rimingado, the leader of the water truck association, welcomed the idea and promised to work with the government to achieve it.
“I am very happy to hear that the government is taking this step, as mentioned by the water resources commissioner.
“We have been thinking of ways to make this possible but we’re faced with various challenges. But now that the government is doing it, I believe we will get to where we have been hoping for a long time.
“It pains me even as the leader of this water trucks association to call on one of our members to deliver water to a particular location and will be told different prices irrespective of location.
“If we can achieve this plan by the government, I will say it will be a very big achievement that will even purify our business and move it forward”, he stated.
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