Setting the records straight on Sokoto’s water situation
By Lawal Jet Kaugama
Our attention has been drawn to a recent statement credited to the Sokoto State governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Hon. Manir Muhammad Dan’iya, in which he accused the administration of Governor Ahmed Aliyu of failing to address the water crisis in Sokoto metropolis and its environs.
While every politician is entitled to hold government accountable, it is important that such criticism be grounded in facts rather than political expediency, particularly from someone who served as deputy governor in an administration whose record on water infrastructure was, to put it charitably, dismal.
It must first be recalled that the six major water schemes now being completed by the Aliyu administration: Tamaje, Gagi, Old Airport, Mana, Runjin Sambo and Ruggar Liman, were originally initiated under the Wamakko administration.
By the time Governor Wamakko left office, only about N500 million was required to complete these projects. Regrettably, the Tambuwal administration, in which Hon. Dan’iya served as deputy governor, abandoned them entirely. Had that government lived up to its responsibility, the current administration would not have had to spend N14.1 billion to revive and complete what should have been finished nearly a decade ago.
Given inflation trends between 2015 and 2023, this cost is unsurprising, it is the price of years of neglect, not mismanagement by the present government.
Today, the Old Airport and Tamaje water schemes have been completed and commissioned. The Mana and Ruggar Liman schemes are awaiting commissioning, while rehabilitation contracts for the Runjin Sambo and Gagi schemes have already been awarded. This is a government completing what others abandoned, not one indifferent to the suffering of its people.
It should also not be forgotten that it was the Tambuwal administration that presided over the stripping of Sokoto’s old water infrastructure, including the sale as scrap of the very pipelines that had supplied water to Sokoto city since the state water board’s inception. That administration failed to replace a single piece of machinery at the main water works throughout its tenure, leaving the board with obsolete equipment.
It also failed to procure water treatment chemicals, a lapse that left residents drinking raw, untreated water for years. It is disingenuous, therefore, for anyone associated with that record to now lecture the Aliyu administration on water delivery.
Since assuming office, Governor Ahmed Aliyu has taken deliberate steps to reverse this legacy of neglect. The administration has replaced numerous machines at the state water board and awarded a contract for the solarisation of the main water works, a project designed to end dependence on the national grid and power pumps around the clock, now nearing completion.
To further reduce pressure on the main water works, the governor approved the drilling of 42 solar-powered boreholes across the metropolis, sited in areas including Tudun-Wada Gebe, Tudun-Wada Old Cemetery, Bazza, Dallatu Road, Lamido Adama Road, Kofar Atiku and Shagari Close, among others.
Beyond new infrastructure, government has also addressed the basics: over 120 kilometres of burst pipelines have been repaired across Sokoto metropolis in the last 18 months, alongside the installation of new booster stations to improve water pressure in high-lying areas.
In the Words of the Commissioner
Responding directly to the allegations, the Sokoto State Ministry of Water Resources issued a formal rejoinder making government’s position unambiguous.
The Commissioner for Water Resources clarified that budget appropriation figures, such as the N25 billion earmarked for rehabilitating the Sokoto Township Water Works, represent multi-year projections, “not the same as cash backing,” with releases made in phases tied to project milestones and revenue availability.
On the broader question of commitment, the Commissioner was categorical: “Water is a fundamental right, not a campaign slogan,” insisting that the Aliyu administration “will not politicize it,” and pledging that residents would begin to see measurable impact from the solarisation project and the six water schemes within the next 12 months.
Governor Ahmed Aliyu has consistently run a transparent system of government, with transactions made public and due process observed in every undertaking. Rather than joining hands with government to sensitise residents on protecting water infrastructure and honouring their water bills, Hon. Dan’iya has chosen instead to politicise a basic service, one his own former administration left in ruins.
Sokoto people are not unaware of who genuinely worked to solve their water problems and who merely watched infrastructure collapse.
Governor Aliyu should be commended, not condemned, for the strides so far ¹, and urged to sustain the pace of these interventions until every household in the state has reliable access to potable water.
But we must be careful of embarking on
unfounded criticisms aimed at political assassination which is commonplace in election times. Governor Ahmed Aliyu is working and all Sokoto needs is to support him to transform the state to our collective aspiration, regardless of political leanings.
Lawal Jet Kaugama is a commentator on national issues. He writes from Kano.