Water is not free in Abuja, we’ll soon review tariffs – GM

Engr Usman Abubakar Aliyu, is Ag. General Manager, FCT Water Board.

In this interview, he complains of lackadaisical attitude of water consumers in Abuja in paying their water bills and other sundry issues. Excerpts:

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– What percentage of water is presently being supplied to FCT residents? –

The supply was initially meant for 300,000 inhabitants but now we have overstretched the facility but even then we are supplying about 45-50%.

If the infrastructure is there they have no cause to suffer but we are having gaps, some have built beyond the infrastructure so the demand for water is always there but people need to be patient.

We have the existing Phases 1 and 2 producing 5,500 cubic meters of water.

When you translate that it means 5 million gallons per hour nonstop 24/7.

In the third phase we have phases 3 and 4 and we are producing 20 million gallons per hour which supply the city through another trunk line constructed also by the FCT Administration through a trunk line that can deliver to our stabilising tanks.

Abuja is a planned city, it has about 10 storage tanks that were designed to supply the city and all those tanks are on the periphery of the city and the water comes by gravity from the treatment plants to those tanks except where we have some high rise places like Maitama, Asokoro and some places in Wuse which are very few.

For three of them, there is provision for pumping, so tanks 3 and 4 were constructed first to serve District 1, second district is served by two tanks, i.e. tank 2 and 5, now we are serving the phase 3, and parts of phase 2 served by tank 1 and 6 along Dutse-Sokale, tank 6 is beyond Apo resettlement, it is completed and will be ready to use soon.

All these are fed from the Lower Usuma Dam though augmented by Gurara because Lower Usuma will not be sufficient to serve the city, so contract for Gurara in Kaduna State was given to SCC which provides inter-basin transfer 25 kilometers, that line from Gurara is 3meter diameter, so now we have enough to serve the city.

Our only constraints are that there are some gaps; people have been allocated and they have expanded their infrastructure but we still wait for the government because Abuja is being developed in phases, people have already built in phase 4 and 5 along Airport road.

The government is trying to secure a loan through NEXIM Bank for Greater Abuja water supply.

So people along that axis will be served, they have to exercise patience.

I want to call on residents to properly safeguard these facilities; they should not misuse them.

If there is any problem just call our call centre numbers.

If you see leakage or any other problem, or if you are billed wrongly or you are not billed, bring these forward so we can address them.

– What are the challenges the board is facing at the moment? –

The federal government in its wisdom at FEC approved to augment the rehabilitation of Phases 1 and 2 that were constructed 30 years ago.

When water comes into contact with pipes, chemicals etc, some of them broke down with time.

The project was there since 2011 or so, though we have achieved some successes we couldn’t finish because of lack of funding.

So the federal government graciously approved N2.5 billion so that we can bring the treatment back to optimum use apart from the new one.

– What is your agenda now that you are at the helm of affairs? –

My agenda is to see that I bring back the glory of the FCT Water Board.

So many things have been happening over the years so we have to be firm and build that confidence for people, especially in terms of payment.

There are so many platforms for payment now; people can pay from the comfort of their homes.

We have banks but with TSA our money gets stuck sometimes.

We remit what we have to the government and we ask them to assist us and they have been doing their best.

So, in this regard I am calling on all my colleagues in the board and customers, minor and major ones, to pay for services that are being rendered to them.

I will not hesitate to take action on anyone who defaults.

You should pay for services rendered, what you have consumed.

If there is a problem contact our area managers or our numbers.

Don’t connive with anybody who says they’ll help you with your bills, if you do so it is at your own peril.

Government has invested a lot of money to put up this infrastructure.

I see no reason why we cannot pay for services rendered.

We have PHCN, GSM, but water, everyone thinks it’s free. Government spends about N400-N430 to produce one cubic meter of water, then add chemicals etc.

But people pay just N80, so there’s subsidy. Even hotels pay only about N150.

It’s over eight years that we have not revised our tariffs.

We will soon do so, we cannot continue like this, spending money and losing.

It is no longer business as usual.

Some residents are accusing the board of estimated billing that is not commensurate with supply. How true is this?

That one we will take care of. We will get an inventory, we will do an assessment, and the issue of estimated billing or flat rate; we will handle all these very soon. We have many consumers that have connected water illegally from our trunk line.

I have already formed a rapid response team that will look into this and very soon would clampdown on illegal connectors who will face the wrath of the law.

– Can you tell us how you rose through the ranks to this position today? –

I started work in the River Basins.

I worked with the Gombe State Water Corporation where we were involved with Gombe regional water supply, supplying Gombe Municipal and 10 other villages.

The contract was awarded during the civilian regime and subsequent regimes have concluded it.

I joined Abuja Water Board in 2008.

I was the chief engineer and I supervised many water construction projects – like the Abuja Water Treatment Plant, the biggest in Africa, the Lower Usuma Water Treatment Plant Phases 3 and 4, with each of them producing 10,000 cubic meters.