Borno State Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, on Thursday, busted an illegal water vendor who had constructed specialised dams manipulating the distribution network to trap water pumped for public use to gain commercial benefits.
Zulum, during a surprise visit to communities in Jere and Maiduguri Metropolis, discovered that certain vendors have constructed specialised water dams blocking and diverting water flow in order to create artificial shortage.
The vendors were artificially creating water shortages to inflate prices and maximize their profits while citizens suffer.
“It is unfortunate to notice that while the government spend millions to provide water to the people, few individuals have constructed a 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 vowed to take swift and decisive action 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.”
