The Federal Government on Sunday said it was flabbergasted by the extent at which Nigerians engaged in boreholes drilling across the country, in a bid to find solution to potable water.
The Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, made the observation recently.
Adamu, who mentioned the cause had to be the defects in provision of potable water, said such issue could have been reduced, if we had decent and achievable, workable water schemes in the country.
“I am appalled at the rate at which boreholes are being drilled in urban centres.
“There is really no need for it if we have good and sound municipal water schemes working; we shall have no reason; we shall have no business having boreholes at all.
“I had the opportunity of working in a water agency in the old Kano State for years, in those years in the old Kano city; you could hardly see a borehole anywhere in the town.
“But I was shocked at one time a couple of years after I left, and I was on my own; I went into Kano city and I was seeing boreholes and overhead tanks as public water systems.
“It was shocking to me because we did know that we had a robust municipal water supply in those days that had standing pipes for people for free fetching of water and if you had the direct connection into your house, you paid.“
He then said effort is ongoing by the Federal Government to obtain loan assistance from the World Bank for water projects in six strategic cities in Nigeria.
“We are even talking with the World Bank now, we want to create model cities, we have asked them to provide some facilities for rural water development and for urban water.
“And the idea is, we want to select like six cities in this country and make them model cities by helping to put all the necessary water infrastructure in place with house metering and so on.
“With the new corporate structure, we can create them as models for other urban settings, we will also have what we call small towns’ water supply which has been a bit successful.
“When we get this loan, the idea is to do a few as pilot projects and for the states should now key in based on this models and continue.“
Support InfoStride News' Credible Journalism: Only credible journalism can guarantee a fair, accountable and transparent society, including democracy and government. It involves a lot of efforts and money. We need your support. Click here to Donate