Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum, on Thursday, busted illegal water vendors who had diverted the public water channels to specialised dams for commercial gains.
The pertrator intentionally cut off the public from accessing the water from the state water Corporation.
Zulum, during the unscheduled visit to communities in Jere and Maiduguri Metropolis, established that some vendors have built specialised water dams diverting waterways so as to create artificial water scarcity.
The vendors were artificially creating water scarcity to hike prices and multiply their gains while villagers suffer water shortages.
“It is unfortunate to notice that while the government spends millions to provide water to the people, few individuals have constructed specialised dams, most with multiple layers of reservoirs. Some of them can store more than one million litres of water”, Zulum said.
He added, “Every day, our treatment plant process and distribute about 40 million litres of water; these criminals trap the larger amount of those supplies for commercial gain.”
Expressing his anger, Zulum promised to take drastic punitive actions against those responsible. He said, “It is unacceptable that some individuals would exploit the suffering of our people for their own selfish gains. We will not tolerate such criminal activities that jeopardize the lives of our citizens.”
