Nigeria: Kwara Provides Water to 190 Communities

A total of 190 communities in Kwara State have been provided with potable water by the state government under its policy of providing 500-metre access to water across the state.

The state governor, Alhaji AbdulFatah Ahmed, was quoted to have made the revelation while speaking at the 2012 convention of the Kwara State Association of Nigerians (KWASANG) in London last Friday.

A statement by the governor’s chief press secretary, Alhaji AbdulWahab Oba, noted that with the supply of water to these communities, the state government had reduced the accessibility ratio to 1km, down from the 1.5km radius it inherited on assumption of office in 2011.

While expressing a determination to continue to implement people-friendly infrastructural projects despite the state’s lean resources, Ahmed assured the gathering of UK-resident Kwarans of his administration’s determination to achieve the 500-metre access by 2013.

The governor said 115 communities had benefited from the government’s rural and urban electrification programme, adding that more communities were slated to benefit from the scheme in line with his determination to ensure 100 per cent electricity coverage across the state.

While calling the attention of the Kwarans to investment opportunities in the agriculture, health, solid mineral and power sectors of the state’s economy, Ahmed said that with the unbundling of the electricity supply in Nigeria, Kwara presents numerous investment opportunities in the power sector.

Pointing to agriculture as the pivot of the state’s economic growth, the governor said his administration had institutionalized the value chain concept in agriculture and had concluded plans to facilitate the creation of commercial agriculture ventures in 60 sites across the state.