OPEN LETTER TO THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR OF GOMBE STATE.
Subject: 25 Years of Thirst.
An Urgent Demand for Accountability on Gombe’s Water Crisis.
Your Excellency,
For over two decades, the people of Gombe have been promised “living water,” yet we remain a state of “dry taps.” On July 29, 2025, the Commissioner for Water, Environment, and Forest Resources, Mohammed Fawu, stated:
”The administration of Governor Inuwa Yahaya has expended over N9 billion on water supply services in the last six years… more communities have been connected to the water supply.”
— (As reported in The Guardian Nigeria and Peoples Gazette)
Your Excellency, we must ask: Where is this water?
A recent independent survey of residents in the Gombe metropolis paints a heart-wrenching picture that contradicts these official figures:
The vast majority of residents (Option A) still buy water from vendors daily, having no access to taps or functional wells.
Others (Option C) rely solely on private boreholes, bearing the cost of a service the government is budgeted to provide.
Zero residents (Option B) could report a consistent, government-provided water supply.
The Cycle of Failure.
We remember your time as Commissioner of Finance to former Governor Danjuma Goje (an insider), and your criticisms of the Dankwambo administration’s water project handling. Yet, after six years of your leadership and Billions of Naira estimated to have been sunk into water projects by successive governments over 25 years, our children are still carrying the same buckets we carried before running late to school in our youth.
The pipes laid from the Dadinkowa Dam under the previous administration at a cost of nearly N10 Billion appear to have become monuments to waste rather than conduits for relief.
Our Global Appeal.
If the N9 Billion spent under your watch and the N320 Billion proposed in the 2025 Budget cannot result in flowing taps, then we, the citizens, are left with no choice.
We are hereby preparing to launch a “Global Appeal for Gombe Water.” We will invite international engineering experts, NGOs, and the Gombe Diaspora to bypass the systemic failures of the State Water Board. We would rather crowdfund our own survival than continue to wait for a government that reports “spending” but delivers “scarcity.”
Our Demands:
- A Transparent Audit.
A public breakdown of how the N9 Billion was spent. - The “Dry Tap” Map.
A town hall meeting where the Water Board explains why “connected” communities still buy water. - Immediate Restoration.
A clear timeline for when the Dadinkowa Regional Water Scheme will serve the upper parts of the state.
Water is life. We are tired of thirsting in the midst of billions.
Signed,
Comrade, IGWala/GOCIP.
WaterForGombe #GombeThirsts #25YearsOfThirst
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