Governorship, National Assembly and state House of Assembly candidates of different political parties as well as community representatives who held an interactive forum in Jos yesterday said the state government had not justified a loan of N8 billion to provide water.

Speaking at the citizens engagement meeting organized by the Community Action for Popular Participation (CAPP) for electoral candidates and the electorate, participants asked the Jonah Jang administration to justify the multi-billion naira water supply investment against the existing water scarcity in Jos North, Jos South, Jos East and Bassa LGAs that the Greater Jos-Bukuru Water Rehabilitation project was intended to serve.

Governorship, National Assembly and state House of Assembly candidates of different political parties as well as community representatives who held an interactive forum in Jos yesterday said the state government had not justified a loan of N8 billion to provide water.

Speaking at the citizens engagement meeting organized by the Community Action for Popular Participation (CAPP) for electoral candidates and the electorate, participants asked the Jonah Jang administration to justify the multi-billion naira water supply investment against the existing water scarcity in Jos North, Jos South, Jos East and Bassa LGAs that the Greater Jos-Bukuru Water Rehabilitation project was intended to serve.

The governorship candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Alhaji Sabiu Ibrahim Musa wondered what might have happened to the project.

“The government talks about spending so much money, yet no water, and our people are suffering”, he said. Plateau North Senatorial candidate of the APC, Mrs Eunice Gambo, said it was a sad irony that the state had abundant water begging for utilization only for the populace to be suffering for water.

“The government of this state collected N8 billion loan to provide water but where is the water?” she asked.

Leader of the Jos North LGA at the meeting, Mr Bature Badung, also complained that water was a great challenge in the communities around the council area.

Representatives of the Government who spoke to ViewPointNigeria however countered such insinuations, arguing that several communities which never had water have not been connected to water sources -pointing out that communities in Jos North, Jos South and Jos East have constant water supplies. They said, there have been instances of pipeline vandalisation by rascals and that this may have hampered supply, but that this was hardly rampant.

The representative said, government had reticulated all major water delivery pipelines in the state. He said, where pipelines have become old and decrepit, government have revamped them, making it possible for people to have good portable water. He said, it is understandable that people (especially opposition politicians) are raising this point, because of the political times which we are in, but the strides made by the Plateau State Water Board were abundantly clear.

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