Why Water Scarcity Persists In Minna – Bago

Niger State governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, says the shortage in water supply in Minna metropolis and other parts of the state was due to the expansion of the town, which made the waterworks designed for 150,000 people now being used by over 1,000,000.

He told journalists in Minna at the weekend that the facilities put in place four decades ago were still on ground without any upgrade to meet the rate of expansion of the state capital

According to him “the government is very, very concerned about issues that have to do with potable drinking water. We inherited decades of neglect of pipelines; most of them are broken, and they are more than 30 or 40 years old.”

“I want to reassure the citizens of Niger State that we are doing everything possible to desilt the Tagwai Dam, change all the pipes and the reticulation system in the state capital, and expand more reticulation and create more reservoirs so that everybody will have potable drinking water,” he added.

While appealing to residents of the state, especially those in the Minna metropolis, to exercise patience with his administration over the shortage of water, he assured that  efforts were underway to address the situation.

He said in the interim, the government was deploying tankers to distribute water to people, adding “We are also collaborating with development partners to drill boreholes in communities where people would have potable drinking water”.

“We know it is painful now for people, but this will bring a lasting solution. We want to appeal to the people to exercise patience with the Niger State government during this very exercise,” he added.

The governor, who also spoke on the epileptic power supply in the state, encouraged the people to make efforts to have an alternative power supply for their daily use.

He said the state government has already transitioned government facilities like hospitals, schools, and government house, among others, off the national grid to ensure effective service delivery in those sectors.