The fraud at Barkumbo Water Scheme

I observed with very keen interest, the transmogrification of the Bauchi State Water Board to Bauchi State Water and Sewerage Corporation in recent years probably and purposely to facilitate World Bank loan in order to turn around the fortunes of the comatose water supply and sanitation conundrum. The reasons for this piece are not far-fetched […]

I observed with very keen interest, the transmogrification of the Bauchi State Water Board to Bauchi State Water and Sewerage Corporation in recent years probably and purposely to facilitate World Bank loan in order to turn around the fortunes of the comatose water supply and sanitation conundrum.
The reasons for this piece are not far-fetched from the public expectation that those entrusted and foisted on the hapless citizens as managers of critical economic subsectors especially of water management over the last decade in Bauchi State are not only grossly incompetent but shamelessly clueless and probably corrupt in the circumstance.
As a one-time Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bauchi State Water Board, I should be in a position to support the notion being canvassed that almost all politicians, public officers or civil servants in disguise appointed as heads of agencies and extra-ministerial departments by the last PDP administration in Bauchi State and are still occupying these strategic offices, are only pretending to be loyal to the present APC led administration. It is not also far-fetched to suggest a total overhaul of the management of the water sector in Bauchi State which may lead to a speedy turn around and at the end, ensure sanity, productivity, initiative, efficiency and corruption free atmosphere to prevail as envisaged by the Government of Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar. A visit to the headquarters of this agency by the Governor himself would clearly reveal to him the extent of decay, depth of ineptitude and poor initiatives by the present visionless management of the Water and Sewerage Corporation right from its gates.
During the inaugural meeting of my then Board, I made it clear to the management that no member of the Board (including myself the Chairman) should be considered for any contract directly or indirectly throughout our tenure. Any member who acted to the contrary was on his own. It is now my privilege to request the Governor of Bauchi State to re-examine the multi-million naira Barkumbo Water Scheme contract which cost tax payers in the State more than N100 million to “execute” which ordinarily and honestly would not have cost more than N20 million through open and competitive bidding in harmony with best practices in the world. Right now the entire scheme is dead on arrival. Out of the 12 or more boreholes under the scheme, more than half were old boreholes drilled by the former North Eastern State Government and only rehabilitated and joined to the scheme. The Chinese contractors who probably fronted for the defunct Isa Yuguda administration allegedly including the management of the then Water Board might have abandoned the details of the contract agreement and hurriedly connected the Barkumbo Water Scheme to two old rusty tanks, one at ground level at the project site and the other an old overhead tank which seriously leaked and therefore could not be operational.
The Gubi Dam is entirely a different case all together and may require professional forensic investigators to confirm to the Government whether the reported several underhand dealings and other murky infractions in the last 16 years were true or not. I participated in a study tour to South Africa and Zambia where the team from Bauchi State was enthralled with the efficiency and honesty of those running these countries water management authorities.
Abubakar Usman (Madakin Kasar Tirwun) is the former Chairman Bauchi StateWater Board. He can be reached at [email protected], 07051697274