The Gombe State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) yesterday distributed water pumps for dry season farming to farmers in the state.
The project is under the Inclusive Basic Service Delivery and Livelihood Empowerment Integrated Project (IBSDLEIP) of the African Development Bank.
Speaking at the distribution ceremony yesterday in Gombe, the Project Manager of RUWASSA, Abdurraqib Muhamamd Sa’eed said the IBSDLEIP was a $29, 000 loan procured from the AfDB to address gaps in basic social services.
He said the project aimed at filling gaps in water, sanitation, health, education and livelihood, especially in the rural areas.
The project manager added that through the IBSDLEIP, the state will benefit from the provision, rehabilitation, access and utilisation of basic social services such as solar powered and hand pump boreholes, sanitation facilities, model primary schools and model primary healthcare centres among others.
Sa’eed assured of RUWASSA’s commitment to ensure timely execution and implementation of programmes that will have direct positive impacts on the lives and livelihood of people of the state.
Speaking while unveiling the items, Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya said the project was to integrate the people that were abandoned by the previous administration.
He said the IBSDLEIP project was largely targeted at the ordinary farmers, who engage in agriculture as their means of livelihood and constituted over 75 per cent of the state’s population.
The governor added that his administration would ensure that the project impacted on people of the state, by ensuring women and youth benefitted by getting means of livelihood and improved their living conditions.
North East Trust reports that six Hilux vehicles, 26 motorcycles and 36 hand pumps were distributed.