Taraba governor, Ishaku, declares state of emergency in water sector

NOT comfortable with the acute shortage of portable water in the city of Jalingo, the capital of Taraba State and its environs, the state governor, Darius D. Ishaku, has directed immediate overhauling of the entire water plants in the state.

Wondering why the people would continue to go about in search of drinking water when the much needed equipment to pump water to the nooks and crannies of the state are available, he urged those in charge of making water available to the people to, as a matter of urgency, make it available or find themselves to blame.

The governor, who gave this directive yesterday through a press release, which was signed by the Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Sylvanus Y. Giwa, also directed for the immediate repairs of “all the boreholes” that service the state through water pipe networks.

Sad that lack of portable water in the state has compelled the people to find alternative in “unsafe water resources”, which according to him, “is hazardous to community health”, must as a matter of urgency be put to an end, hence the directive for the overhauling of the water plants.

Stressing his readiness to make essential services available to the people, he vowed not to tolerate any form of indolence and excuses from public servants who derive pleasure in derailing from their assigned responsibilities, stating that “there is no laxity or disregard for assigned duties.”

Ishaku, who went ahead to call on those responsible for the flow of water in the state, gave an ultimatum of one day in which water must gush out of the plants to the people domiciling in areas like Mayo Gwai, Magami, Nassarawo and so on.

Before now, the dream of the people having access to portable water in the state, especially in Jalingo metropolis, have been a mirage as the immediate past administration was never perturbed about the situation which has forced the people to source for water in the same ponds with pigs and other creatures.

As at the time of filing in this report, water, which had in the past turned out to be a scarce thing, as noticed by our reporter, has started flowing in some parts of the state capital.

Meanwhile, the governor who went ahead to pay an unscheduled visit to the Taraba Gass and the Taraba Transport Corporation, also expressed dismay at the way and manner the companies are being run.

Both companies that are owned by the state government as observed by The Guardian have in the past suffered series of neglect, the situation which the governor said is acceptable, hence his readiness to as well overhaul them so as to improve the Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state.

Some residents of Jalingo metropolis, who bared their minds on the development, felt sad that the past leadership of the state never deemed it fit to make water available to the people in spite of the availability of the needed water plants.