Suspected vandals have attacked the Birninkudu Water Treatment Plant in Birninkudu Local Government Area of Jigawa, beat up workers, and stole items worth over N20 million.
The Commissioner for Water Resources, Alhaji Ibrahim Garba, made this known when he inspected the facility on Friday.
Garba, who expressed worry over the incident, said the government would take drastic measures against those sabotaging its efforts to provide potable water to residents of the state.
“This is very sad and unfortunate indeed. Items worth over N20 million were stolen by the vandals.
“This is the first time this has happened since the creation of this water facility in Birninkudu in the last 50 years.
“This is happening across the state as it happened in Kazaure where about 20 boreholes were destroyed, cables dug out and carted away; it also happened in Babura, Gumel and Dutse. So it is rampantly happening,” Garba lamented.
He added that the rampant theft and destruction of water facilities across the state was causing hardship to the citizens in terms of access to potable water and obstructing government’s efforts to provide water for all.
The commissioner, therefore, advised the general public to take full ownership of all facilities and other critical infrastructure provided by government facilities in their respective communities and report any suspicious movement around such facilities to the security agencies for prompt action.
Also speaking, the Zonal Manager of the Jigawa Water Board, in charge of Birninkudu, Buji and Gwaram, Malam Yunusa Shuaibu, who was among those attacked by the suspected vandals, told newsmen that the hoodlums attacked the facility at about midnight on Tuesday.
“It was on Tuesday around midnight that a gang of people numbering about 10 carrying dangerous weapons attacked the facility where I and the manager and two other staff were attacked.
“They tied me up and hit me and other staff with sticks, while one staff member managed to escape.
“They cut off cables and stole items worth over N20 million, and ransacked the facility,” the official alleged.
Shuaibu listed the items stolen by the suspected vandals as high lift cable (150mm×4core), DB cable (100mm×4core), two high lift rotor (75kv), three Kickstarters (100kv), four solar batteries (300arm) and computers.
Others are stock cable (6mm flexible, 150mm×4core, 100mm×4core and 16mm×4core), two batteries (150arm 12vol), pump (30kv), seven impellers, overload spear parts, iron slab and five mobile phones.
Also commenting, the Chairman of the Council, Alhaji Magaji Yusif, pointed out that the substantial number of residents of the area depend on the facility for their daily water needs.
Yusif said two-thirds of the 200,000 residents of the local government could not get access to water due to the vandalism.
He added that the facility, built in 1972, treats 400 cubic litres of water per hour.
The chairman promised that the council would take proactive measures to forestall future occurrences of the incident.
According to him, the council will also take immediate action to ensure that water supply continues, pending the general repair of the facility by the state government.
(NAN)