Gombe government decries lack of payment of water bills

Gombe State Government has decried the non-payment of water bills by residents of Gombe and environs, a development it opined is negatively affecting the efforts of the government to provide water services to the public.

The Commissioner for Water Resources, Alhaji Mijinyawa Yahaya made the disclosure during an interactive session with Newsmen in Gombe on Monday saying that less than 10 per cent of water consumers in the state are actually paying their water bills on a regular basis.

He further said that the state government has made a lot of commitment in the area of maintenance and treatment of the Dadin-Kowa dam in order to ensure that portable water reached everywhere within the metropolis and other suburbs.

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According to him, water tariffs are low and many water users do not pay their bills, therefore, calling on the general public particularly those using water to show some commitment by paying their water bills so that the government could serve them better.

Mijinyawa Yahaya also said that government will introduce metering which would indicate defaulters as well as those who pay regularly saying that, “Introducing the metering will serve as a way of generating revenue for the state government,’’.

It will be recalled that the Governor, Inuwa Yahaya, had in July 2019, released the sum of N110m to the state water board, to address water supply problem facing the state and environs.

Inuwa Yahaya said that residents of Gombe township and environs will be getting 50 million litres of water daily, as against the 10 million litres in the past.

He also said that supply of clean water was one of the cardinal points of action of the present government, and would, therefore, continue to receive attention until residents get regular supply across the state.

He added that, as part of an effort to address the water challenges, all illegal connection of pipelines were disconnected saying, “Previously, some selfish individuals have diverted the water connections for their personal use.

“Water supply has been restored fully, the Dadin/Kowa dam is now releasing 50 million cubic litres daily, against the 10 million cubic litres previously which were not sufficient,” he explained.