The proverbial saying that water is life invariably lends credence to water as an essential component to the survival of humans, plants and animals.
As a matter of fact, for as long as one could ever imagine water has continually occupied and played a critical role in man’s social, economic, cultural and Infrastructural development.
An imagination of a world without water is akin to standing between the devil and the deep blue sea. But inspite of the large bodies of water that is said to occupy over half of the world’s surface, most communities especially in Africa still find it extremely difficult to access water for their domestic use.
Water scarcity in Nigeria has been a reoccurring decimal despite efforts of past administrations to address the lingering challenge. In Gombe State, the experience of water supply overtime has been an issue of intense public scrutiny in lieu of the fact that efforts by previous administrations at water supply to the State appeared more of a political melodrama than work in the true sense of it.
The coming of Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya as Governor of Gombe State ushered in a paradigm shift nay deliberate course of action regarding the rehabilitation and expansion of the 50 million litres capacity Dadinkowa Water Treatment Plant. Without recourse to the poor revenue generated by the State Water Corporation, the administration of Governor Inuwa Yahaya pays an average of 250 million monthly to maintain the water treatment plant while keeping the taps running in Gombe State.
Perhaps not satisfied with the level of water supply in the State, the administration of Governor Inuwa Yahaya went into partnership with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to have the PWASH programme implemented in some Local Government Areas of the State to boost water supply. Only recently, the State Executive Council presided over by Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, approved 11.49 billion naira contract for the rehabilitation, upgrade and expansion of the Gombe regional water supply scheme to make water readily available to every household in the State.
The contract will involve the extension of services and construction of booster stations in Gombe Capital Special Development Zone, Tunfure and Tashan Aduwa along Bauchi Road and a booster station to be located around the vicinity of NTA Gombe to supply water up to the international conference centre.
Other areas that the multi billion naira contract is expected to cover include the construction of a water mini scheme in Tabra, rehabilitation of old network structures, installation and laying of about one hundred and sixty kilometres of distribution pipelines in Gombe metropolis and installation of one hundred isolation valves and rehabilitation of the existing ones.
The contract will equally see to the rehabilitation and expansion of Wuro Juli water Scheme, installation of 2000 smart meters, two hundred and fifty water buck meters, provision of spare parts, rehabilitation of existing offices and digitization and mapping of other services to enhance efficiency among others.
The Gombe State Commissioner Water Resources Yahaya Mijinyawa had told the Press that the approval of the contract was pursuant to Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya’s campaign promise of providing uninterrupted water supply to the people of Gombe metropolis and environs.
Without any aiota of doub, the commitment so far displayed by the administration of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya towards addressing the challenges associated with water supply in the State is not only pragmatic and legendary but in keeping with the sacred oath he took while taking over as the State chief Executive.
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