The Abubakar Bukola Saraki Foundation (ABSF) has warned the Kwara State government against politicising community development. ABSF was reacting to a statement credited to the Commissioner for Water Resources, Usman Yunusa Lade, at the weekend that reportedly warned residents against tampering with any state-owned water facilities, while also stating that “anyone who tampers with the state-owned water facilities without an approval from the designated authority will be dealt with according to law”.

The organisation stated: “While the commissioner has not defined what constitutes “tampering with state water facilities” and also failed to clarify if repair of moribund, disused, and non-functional boreholes based on requests from affected communities, also constitutes “tampering with the water facilities”, we believe the statement by Mr Lade was targeted at the recent initiative of the ABSF Foundation in which we just completed the training and equipping of 25 youths across the state with tools to enable them continuously and seamlessly repair boreholes and maintain water system across the state.”
 
It continued: “We believe the Kwara State government made the statement to halt and frustrate the foundation’s initiative to create Water Champions across various communities. The water champions have acquired skills and equipment during their sponsored training that they can deploy in helping various communities that face problems of water supply due to the poor maintenance of boreholes. The repair of boreholes by these water champions is therefore no false promise. It is a reality that the people have found extremely useful.”