The Federal Government on Monday, May 28, 2018 inaugurated the Sabke, Dutsi and Mashi water supply schemes in Daura, Katsina State, after two decades of abandonment.
The water schemes, conceived and started in 1998 by the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, was abandoned by previous administrations.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the water schemes, completed also by Buhari-led administration, were inaugurated by the Ministers of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, as well as Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and handed over to Katsina State Government.
Speaking at the event, Adamu said that the Sabke dam water scheme is a conventional treatment pack with a capacity to provide 4,370 cubic metres per day or 1million gallons of portable water per day to Daura and environs.
He said the Dutsi and Mashi water schemes were packaged plants with each having capacity to provide 1000cubic meters per day or about 250,000 gallons per day of treated water to Dutsi and Mashi inhabitants.
The minister said that the three plants had a combined capacity to serve100,000 people daily.
He said the government had also provided for the construction of 38 borehole schemes to serve the Sabke Daura water transmission plant.
NAN reports that the Sabke water scheme is also being used for irrigation for farmers.
The minister said that the objectives of providing access to portable water in the communities had been achieved after many years of neglect.
“With the commissioning of the schemes, I am convinced that incidences of water borne diseases will be curtailed while sanitation and personal hygiene will be improved and income generation will be enhanced,” he said.
The minister urged the communities to safeguard the water schemes at all times.
NAN report that the projects were handed over to the state Governor, Aminu Masari who was represented at the event by the Secretary to the state Government, Dr Mustapha Inuwa.
The Minister of Information said that the project commissioning fitted into the ongoing agenda to showcase the achievements of the Buhari Administration, especially in the area of Infrastructure.
He recalled that the water project inauguration was the second in a week by the Buhari Administration, after the one inaugurated in Ugboha community in Edo State last Thursday
The minister also recalled other projects he had commissioned and inspected in showcasing the achievements of the administration.
Mohammed congratulated the Minister of Water Resources on the successful completion of the
water schemes as well as the people who would benefit from the projects.
He said the Buhari administration was on the right track for choosing to complete ongoing and abandoned projects instead of abandoning them as past governments had done.
“The administration believes that governance is about the well being of the people, and will continue to pursue projects that directly benefits the people,” he said.
Alh. Nuradeen Rafindadi, the Managing Director of Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), said he was part of the PTF team that surveyed the project at inception.
Rafindadi said the PTF completed the dam project and was about to start the treatment plant, portable water and the irrigation scheme when the Fund went defunct.
He said the project was then transferred to the Federal Ministry of Water Resource which was abandoned, and now finally revisited and completed by the present administration.
The Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Faruq, said the project sites had been taken over by reptiles before the Buhari administration came to their rescue to complete the project.
He underscored the need for any administration to take cue from Buhari’s policy of completing on-going and abandoned projects of his predecessors before embarking on new ones for continuity.
The Emir urged the government to expand the water schemes project to supply water to more rural communities as well as revive other abandoned dams in the state.
By Rotimi Ijikanmi
