Sokoto: Misconceptions against Gov Ahmad Aliyu’s benevolence
By Hassan Musa
Governor Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto State has good intentions to provide access to clean water for his people by drilling boreholes, but his efforts were misinterpreted or misunderstood.
This is not uncommon with his critics, usually the opposition, as even his well-intentioned initiatives were usually misinterpreted, purposely to incite the masses against him. But happily they usually failed.
The Press Secretary to Sokoto State governor has come out clearly to clarify some mole hills which some of the detractors of Gov. Ahmad Aliyu are making a Mountain of.
The issue is that Gov Ahmad Aliyu has spent N1.2bn to drill 25 boreholes domiciled in Munki, Marnona, Dinawa, Lugu and Wurno perimeter fencing as well as a 40-kilometre shelter belt, all at the cost of N 1.2bn. But his detractors said he used the money renovate boreholes.
Gov Aliyu’s bid to provide potable water for his people has drawn the anger of some people who prefer to share such amount instead of using it to provide social infrastructure to ease the the people’s sufferings.
The fake news peddlers in their mischief said the state government renovated 25 boreholes at N1.2bn. What a nake lie!
To counter this mischief, the Press Secretary to Gov. Ahmad Aliyu, Abubakar Bawa, came out and made a clear statement regarding the project.
“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.”
At this juncture, Bawa said the fact of the matter is that the state government, in collaboration with the World Bank, under the ACReSAL programme, has drilled 25 boreholes domiciled in Munki, Marnona, Dinawa, Lugu and Wurno perimeter fencing as well as a 40-kilometre shelter belt, all at the cost of N 1.2 billion.
This came 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 solar-powered boreholes and other projects that gulped the said amount and not the renovation.
Bawa further clarify that there had never been boreholes in those areas before the coming of this administration let alone renovating them.
It is the present administration under Ahmad Aliyu that initiated these projects in order to assist those communities to address the perennial water scarcity they had been facing long ago.
It is a well known fact that the people of Wurno Local Government Area have for a very long time been facing acute water scarcity which had forced the residents of several communities to travel to far distances to fetch water in order to meet up their domestic needs.
This scenerio has contributed greatly to low pupils’ enrollments and retention in schools in the local overnment, because children have to be sent to fetch water that would be used for domestic purposes.
Considering the agony of the people, Gov Aliyu-led administration decided to come to the aide of Wurno communities by drilling the solar-powered boreholes.
Bawa stressed that government cannot renovated something that was not in existence.
“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.”
Therefore, the aim of the enemies of Sokoto State is to incite the people against their governor. All this is the handiwork of opposition parties who refuse to see anything good in the All Progressives Congress, APC-controlled administration of Dr Ahmad Aliyu.
These enemies of progress and politicians with ill- motives
wanted to make Gov Aliyu’s benevolence to be misconstrued by the people.
The state government did not repair, neither renovate boreholes in Wurno Local Government. What the government did was the drilling of the brand new 25 solar-powered boreholes spread in Wurno, Lugu, Munki, Marnona and Dinawa, perimeter fencing, 40 kilometer shelter belt as well as 500-hectare forest enrichment.
For those who are still in doubt, here are facts regarding the issues at stake:
the project is a collaboration between the Sokoto State Government, ACReSAL and the World Bank. And the contract was awarded by ACReSAL with no input whatsoever from the government; the objective of the project is to aggressively combat the problem of environmental degradation and improve access to potable water supply.
In fact, if we are talking of prudence and accountability in public office, Gov Aliyu occupies top spot among state governors in the country. He is a state functionary whose action is not driven by sperks of office but how to better the lives of his people.
For the upteenth time, his antecedents in office had been brought to the people for scrutiny and he always came out clean, unblemished.
Hassan Musa writes from Sokoto, Sokoto State