Kwara Expends N6.5bn on Water Reticulation in Eight Years

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

Kwara state government has said it has expended a total sum of over N6.5 billion between 2009 and 2018 on water reticulation schemes for the residents of Ilorin metropolis and other parts of the state.

The state commissioner for Water Resources, Alhaji Abdulkadir Yusuf, who spoke with journalists on the state’s stride at a news conference on the provision of water supply to the residents of the state, said by the time the water reticulation project is completed, the perennial water shortage in the city and other parts of the state would come to an end.

Yusuf who was accompanied by a consultant to the state government on the water rehabilitation project, Prof. Sulaiman Adeyemi, said a sum of N1.9 billion was also captured in the 2018 budget to be spent on tertiary water reticulation in some parts of the state to ensure regular supply of potable water.

He said water challenge had lingered for so long in the metropolis because of the need to provide adequate water production, renewal of water distribution network, increase storage capacity, restoration of old pipes, and provision of adequate water treatment plant.

Yusuf, who said the state government, since 2003, had been able to double water treatment capacity in the metropolis, added that water connection to communities, particularly in the Ilorin metropolis, would be unveiled in September.
He explained that water provision project, is in primary, secondary and tertiary stages, and added that homes would have opportunity to connect to state water corporation pipes after completion of the tertiary water reticulation scheme.

He, however, said the state government would still need to carry out a lot of investment in water project in the near future with daily expansion of the Ilorin metropolis and other parts of the state with attendant increased population.

Yusuf also said the administration of Dr. Bukola Saraki expended about N3.7 billion on water scheme in the state, adding that the present government had spent over N2.4 billion on the scheme while N858 million was spent through infrastructural fund programme of the state government.

The commissioner, who urged residents of the state to be prepared to pay a token to get regular provision of potable water in their homes, said dirty water may be cheap, adding that potable water cannot be free and cheaper than that got from water vendors.