By Ben Ngwakwe, Gombe The Gombe State Government has rejected claims that it spent between N133 billion and N138 billion on water supply projects, describing the figures as inaccurate and misleading. The government said the figures in circulation appeared to lump together recurrent expenditure, capital allocations, inherited contractual obligations, development-partner interventions and budgetary provisions without distinguishing between funds appropriated and actual expenditure. In a statement issued on Friday night by the Director-General, Press Affairs, Government House, Gombe, Ismaila Uba Misilli, the government said the clarification was aimed at providing the public with an accurate account of its investments and interventions in the water sector. According to the statement, water supply has remained a longstanding challenge in the state due to population growth, urban expansion, ageing infrastructure, inadequate storage capacity, rising energy costs and a distribution network originally designed for a much smaller population. It said the administration of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, since assuming office in 2019, had adopted a phased approach covering water production, treatment, storage, transmission, distribution, energy supply, metering, maintenance and institutional capacity. The government recalled that Yahaya made the Gombe State Water Board and Dadin Kowa Water Treatment Plant among his early points of inspection after assuming office, following concerns over the poor performance of existing facilities. It said the assessment identified inadequate production and storage capacity, ageing infrastructure, unreliable electricity supply, limitations in the transmission and distribution network and other operational challenges. The administration subsequently constituted a Water Supply Task Force, headed by Engineer Abubakar Bappa, to undertake a comprehensive assessment and recommend sustainable interventions. Government explains expenditure figures The government said the N133 billion to N138 billion figure being cited did not represent actual expenditure on a single water programme. It said the administration inherited an outstanding contractual obligation of about N5 billion to CGC, the company responsible for operating and maintaining the Dadin Kowa facility. It added that recurrent and subvention-related commitments between 2019 and 2025 to sustain water infrastructure amounted to more than N9.5 billion. The government argued that such operational expenditure should not be presented as capital expenditure on new water infrastructure. Capital investments, donor interventions The statement said substantial capital provisions had been made between 2020 and 2025 for water infrastructure, including piped-water expansion, borehole development and interventions implemented through the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, RUWASSA, and development partners. It noted that Gombe was among states benefiting from World Bank-supported interventions under the Programme-for-Results component of the Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene programme, SURWASH. According to the government, the interventions had contributed to the drilling and rehabilitation of hundreds of boreholes across communities. N88.4bn 2026 budget provision On the N88.4 billion figure referenced in some commentaries, the government explained that it represented a broader 2026 budgetary provision covering the Ministry of Water Resources, Environment and Forest Resources and agencies under its supervision. These include the Gombe State Water Board, RUWASSA, SURWASH, the Gombe State Environmental Protection Agency and other related programmes. The government said the provision covered several interventions involving water, energy and environmental infrastructure, including conversion of water facilities to solar and hybrid power, rehabilitation and expansion of the Malam Inna Water Scheme, rehabilitation of industrial boreholes serving the northern axis and water infrastructure for the Agro-Livestock Development Zone. It stressed that a budgetary provision was not synonymous with expenditure already incurred, just as a sector-wide allocation could not automatically be attributed to a single project. N11.4bn Regional Water Expansion Project The administration also highlighted the N11.4 billion Gombe State Regional Water Expansion Project, implemented in collaboration with the Federal Government under a 70:30 funding arrangement. According to the statement, the project, awarded to Jidadu Ventures Nigeria Limited, had been completed and was undergoing
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