Billions of naira soaked away in Damaturu water project

Unfortunately, the project has failed to see the light of day despite huge funds poured into it by both the federal and the state governments with the two, seemingly reluctant to explain reasons for disappointing endless water searching residents. The state government has however, promised to inject N1 billion into the project this year. Many […]

Unfortunately, the project has failed to see the light of day despite huge funds poured into it by both the federal and the state governments with the two, seemingly reluctant to explain reasons for disappointing endless water searching residents.

The state government has however, promised to inject N1 billion into the project this year. Many people have applauded the declaration but are quick to call on the government to swing into action immediately. “It is one thing to earmark money for a project in the budget but entirely another thing to release funds for it,” Musa Ali, a resident of Damaturu observed.

Situated in the arid zone, Yobe State has been battling with how to find a lasting solution to its perennial water shortage for domestic and industrial uses because as soon as the rainy season which lasts barely two months cease, the only option for potable water is the borehole.

Few rivers in the state including the River Yobe are now struggling to survive from the damaging effects of natural and man- made activities.  This makes it difficult for the government to consider the option of constructing dams, at least for now.

The fate of the Damaturu Greater Water Project has snow dived in the last three years. The project which has reached an advanced stage has stopped. Only reptiles now dwell in the structures on ground while heavy equipment and pipes waiting for installation have been enveloped by dust. Observers fear that the equipment are no longer safe from miscreants who are now taking advantage of the ‘I don’t- care- attitude’ of the government.

In its original master plan, the project will have 30, 8 inch boreholes with an average yield of between 10 and 15 litres of water per second.

It will also include the construction of 5,000,000 litres of surface reservoir and the erection of 1,000,000 litres overhead tank.

The project is also expected to have 260 kilometers of reticulation network to all nooks and crannies of the state capital which will ensure sustainable and uninterrupted water supply in Damaturu.

Speaking during the celebration of the World Water Day on March 22, 2010, the Commissioner of Water Resources, Alhaji Barau Sugum, said the Damaturu Greater Water Project is the largest single water supply scheme ever undertaken in the state capital.

Represented by his permanent secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Lawan Yunusari, the commissioner said Damaturu has in the last one decade, witnessed tremendous upsurge of people and therefore, increased the need for water supply.

He said that was what prompted the state government to set aside the sum of N1 billion naira in its 2010 budget for the reactivation of the Damaturu Water project and that serious attention will be sustained in order to actualise the project which has the capacity to holistically address water problems in the state capital and its environs.

Investigations by Kanem Trust reveals that of the total 30 earmarked for the project, 29  have been completed long ago while  construction work on both the surface and the overhead reservoirs have gone far but stopped abrupt.

Some observers said factors responsible for the non completion of the project are political rather than financial. “It is very unfortunate that a project of this magnitude, with its attendant positive effects on the people is subjected to this negligence,” an engineer in the state ministry of water resources lamented.

Even though the project was started during the tenure of Bukar Abba Ibrahim who is now a senator, his visit to the site in 2008 told a different story about the project.

“This project is situated in my senatorial district and I am not happy that it is still not a completed project. Non completion of the project which has reached an advanced stage has subjected the people of Damaturu and environs to serious hardships occasioned by diseases as they have to spend a lot of money every day to purchase water from vendors,” Bukar said.

Engineers at the site told reporters that the construction of 30 boreholes that would kick-start the greater water supply was just “a stop gap” initiative and were meant to be supplying the reservoirs with water on a daily basis.

“In the original framework, the Katarko dam in Gujba local government will be the mother cat that will be supplying water to the reservoirs for onward distribution to the people,”Apostle Gerard Ihesino who is in charge of the construction of the reservoirs said.

He said when completed, the Katarko dam will have multi faceted advantages for many communities who would be using it for irrigation purposes and animal rearing among others.

Unfortunately however, the Katarko dam project is also another abandoned project even as a few construction equipment and containers are waiting anxiously at the dam site.

Apostle Gerard said if the federal government can release funds, the whole project could be completed soon.

However, before the federal and the state governments resume work on the Katarko dam, or more appropriately, complete the reticulation of the ‘waiting to be put to use’ boreholes in Damaturu, residents would continue to rely on the existing public and private boreholes for domestic water consumption.

 Records show that as at 2007 there are about 55 public boreholes in Damaturu alone and the number has quadrupled.

“The major problem of water supply in Damaturu is energy because the boreholes are over 100 meters deep and therefore require a lot of energy to lift water,” a former permanent secretary in the ministry of water resources, Engineer Ahmed Amshi, said.

It was discovered that once there is no power supply from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), an average of N7 million is being spent every day to buy fuel for boreholes in Damaturu alone.

Amshi said Yobe State has done its best in terms of water supply not only in Damaturu but also in all the 17 local governments. “We have a coverage of 45 per cent which is one of the highest in the country,” he asserted, and therefore called on the federal government to also show some commitment to the state.

In suburbs like Nayinawa, Babbar Tsangaya, one million road as well as many government housing estates such as Sani Daura, Zanna Zakaria, Obasanjo, Dabo Aliyu, among others where public servants reside, the available boreholes though some functional could not meet up with the demands of the people because there is no electricity to power the engines.

Water vendors are therefore handy because they get their supplies from private borehole operators who are so rampant in the state capital with many of them operating without permission from NAFDAC.

But the state government says it would remain committed to ensuring steady water supply not only in Damaturu but in all the 17 local government areas of the state.

In his 2010 budget presentation, Governor Ibrahim Gaidam said the exploitation of water resources will continue to be based on the strategies of drilling more boreholes, construction of dams, control gates, refurbishing of dormant boreholes and concrete lined cement wells.”

“We will equally continue to procure generating sets, transformers, submersible pumps, fuel and lubricants, as well as ensure the maintenance of service rigs, boreholes and other equipment,” he said. But whether this is true or a mere political statement that is common with political actors, is a different matter all together which only time can confirm. But what is aptly in place at the moment is that residents of Damaturu have a renewed optimism amidst over riding doubts about the water project.