NEWISSUES
BY ANKELI EMMANUEL, Sokoto
Abubakar Bawa, the Press Secretary to Sokoto State
Sokoto state governor, Thursday debunked news making the round that his boss spent a whooping sum of 1.2bn to renovate bore holes in Wurno local government of the state.
The governor's spokesperson who clarified that, the state government in collaboration with world bank sank 25 soar powered boreholes and other projects amounting to the total sum in question, appealed to critics to always seek clarification as they run a very transparently open policy.
Bawa further disclosed that, those critics failed to do a careful check as boreholes never existed in the villages mentioned before they came to power.
The clarification signed by Abubakar Bawa read in part, “”the attention of the Sokoto State Government has been drawn to a misconception being circulated about its interventions in providing potable drinking water to the rural dwellers through sinking of boreholes across the state.
“”In the misconception, which the enemies of progress are spreading, it was said the Sokoto State Government spent N1.2 billion to renovate boreholes in some areas of Wurno Local Government.
“The fact of the matter is that the state government, in collaboration with the World Bank, under the ACReSAL programme drilled 25 boreholes domiciled in Munki, Marnona, Dinawa, Lugu and Wurno, perimeter fencing as well as a 40-kilometer shelter belt, all at the cost of N 1.2 billion.
“As against the insinuation that it was the renovation of the 25 boreholes that gulped N 1.2 billion, the fact is that, it is actually the drilling of 25 nos solar-powered boreholes and other projects that gulped the said amount and not the renovation.
“”It is equally important to make it categorically clear that, boreholes never existed in those areas before the coming of this administration.
Therefore, it is the present administration that initiated these projects in order to assist those communities to address the perennial water scarcity they have been facing long ago””.
Continuing, the government spokesperson said
the people of Wurno Local Government have been faced with acute water scarcity long before, a situation that always forced the residents to travel to far distances in search of fetch water for their domestic needs.
Stressing the negative effect of the water scarcity, the state image maker, Abubakar Bawa affirmed that, it has greatly contributed to low pupils' enrollments, retention and completion of schools in Wurno Local Government.
“It is against this background that the governor Ahmed Aliyu led administration decided to come to the rescue of Wurno communities by drilling solar-powered boreholes in many areas under a collaborative effort by the World Bank, Sokoto State Government as well as ACReSAL programme.
“You can't renovate a project that does not exist, so there was not a single borehole drilled in those areas before the advent of the present administration in sokoto state.
These communities never experienced what is called'a borehole' until now that Sokoto State has a listening and hardworking Governor.
“”The state government did not repair neither renovate boreholes in Wurno Local Government. What the government did was drilling of the brand new 25 solar-powered boreholes spread in Wurno, Lugu, Munki, Marnona and Dinawa, perimeter fencing,40 kilometer shelter belt aa well as 500-hectare forest enrichment””..
