Nigeria approves N78bn for water projects in Jigawa, Benue

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N78.3 billion for the construction of the Greater Dutse Water Supply Project in Jigawa State.

The funds will also cover the rehabilitation of the Buruku/Gboko Water Supply project in Benue State.

The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu.

He said: “FEC approved the award of contract for construction of the Greater Dutse Water Supply Project in Jigawa at the total contract sum of N59,457,319,900.94.

“Council also approved the award of contract for the Rehabilitation of the Buruku/Gboko Water Supply Project in Benue at the total sum of N18,893,279,411.42.”

The minister added that both water supply schemes would be powered by solar as a deliberate effort to reduce carbon emissions and the impact of climate change.

On the recent collapse of dams in the country, Utsev said a committee was assessing the state of all dams with the aim of putting them back in shape to avert flooding in the future.

He said: “At the moment, the committee has been constituted into two teams. Team A and Team B. Team A is now in Bauchi, it was in Plateau yesterday (Tuesday).

“From Bauchi, the team will move to Gombe, and proceed to Adamawa, while team B moves to Delta.

“Today, team B is in Enugu state and will be moving to Cross River. We are going to cover critical dams across the country before we go onto the second phase, where a report will generated for Nigerians,“ he added.