Since his assumption of office as the Governor of Katsina State in 2015, Governor Aminu Bello Masari has made the provision of potable water and improvement of sanitation as one of the cardinal objectives of his administration. AUGUSTINE OKEZIE writes:
Having met an already existing full-pledged agency responsible for implementing all policies and programmes on rural water supply and sanitation, the governor, without hesitation, continued to make huge budgetary provision for the State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) to function effectively by drilling and installation of new hand pumps and solar power boreholes and rehabilitation of broken schemes in all nooks and crannies of the state.
The outgoing administration has recorded remarkable progress through the agency by executing many waters supply and sanitation projects. While most of the projects have been solely funded by the government, others were executed through the counterpart funding between the state government and other international development partners like UNICEF and DFID.
Investigation by the Nation, revealed that from 2015 to 2018, it was a haul of projects with a cost implication of N2,895,061,000.00. Some of the projects include about 3, 262 hand pump boreholes were drilled at N2,120,300.00; over 68 solar power lboreholes provided at the cost of N393, 961,000.00; rehabilitation of 1, 360 hand pumps at N115, 600.000.00 and 20 solar power boreholes at N265, 200,000.00.
Another programme was the Partnership for Expanded Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) in which the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Katsina State government collaborated in three local government areas for the provision of new hand pump and solar power boreholes as well as rehabilitation of broken-down ones.
On its part, the state government through RUWASSA has executed several water sanitation projects in Daura, Dutsi and Mashi Local Government Areas where 70 new hand pumps and 87 broken down ones were rehabilitated from 2020 to date. Similarly, 44 new solar power boreholes were constructed and 30 broken down ones rehabilitated. Additional 13 existing ones underwent upgrading.
