Tour Of Niger Sate Water Board By Elohim Foundation E-Wash Team.

Introduction: The importance of water can never been underestimated or over emphasized as water is an essential nutrient and plays a beneficial role in the human body. It is said people can survive without eating food for sometimes but none can survive without drinking water as water makes up on average 60% of an adults body weight from 31% in bones to 83% in lungs.

Water is life’s mater and matrix, mother and medium; there is no life without water as is said to be the only drink for a wise man.

“With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you are connected to the sea no matter where on earth you live”

SYLVIA EALE

“Water and air, the two essentials fluids on which life depends, have become global garbage cans”

JACQUES YVES COUSTEAU

We all know the worth of water and that is why the EWASH team embarked on a water tour at Chanchaga water board in Minna, the state capital of Niger State.

Proceedings: We arrived at Chanchaga Water Board also known as water works Minna for the tour at about 10-10:40am respectively and a brief meeting was held in the hall at the water works with an opening remark from Miss. Susan (Advocacy and Capacity building specialist EWASH project). She welcomed everyone from the host to the Area manager Chanchaga water works, to the utility chemical specialist EWASH project, the media, ETF and Elohim Foundation team respectively.

Mrs. Susan gave a breakdown of the tour schedule which was to end with a meeting at Gidan Ruwa with the General Manager of Water Board Minna. She then handed over to the Chemical specialist Chanchaga water works in person of Engineer Hassan Muhammad who started by saying SALAM to everyone (meaning Peace be upon you in Arabic), he then introduced his colleague Engineer Gimba who is a water quality specialist whom he described as a young man with a lot of knowledge and wisdom with tremendous experience in his field.

Engineer Hassan stated that he is going to give the tourist a brief talk for the general knowledge on what to expect from the tour. He began by telling the tourist the population of Minna; he said Minna as the capital of Niger State has a population of over 540,000 people. So, providing water for such a large population is not going to be that easy. He further added that the sources of water in Minna are from two dams namely the Bosso dam and the Tagwai dam.

The major source of water for these dams is SURFACE WATER and the two sources of water used in Minna city are the SURFACE WATER and BOREHOLES; Minna, he continued has four water works, one is situated in Bosso and the other three at chanchaga. These water works are the ones serving Minna with 7,000 metric cubic capacity and Paiko with 2,000 metric cubic capacity per hour each.

Engineer Hassan also mentioned that, we should be expecting to see the equipment’s and also the transformer used for water treatments and the processes five stages that water goes through before consumption its delivered to the consumer, which are:

• The coagulation process/stage
• The fluctuation process/stage
• The segmentation process/stage
• The filtration process/stage
• The disinfection process/stage

However, Mr. Julius of Elohim Foundation asked if the Water flowing from Tagwai dam is coming by gravitational force and if Tagwai dam is an uphill. Engineer Hassan answered YES! The water flows by gravitational force. Tagwai dam has two verves which are closed up during rainy seasons and added that there are different point areas that water flows through the water works rivers and that’s the water that is been used for now before the rain stops and river dries up then the verves or a verve will be open to ease a little quantity of water flow through gravitational force of 30kilometres.

After the briefing on what to expect from the water works tour, our first stop was at the new 5MVA standby generator and four new transformers donated to water works by the state government. Engineer Hassan commended the efforts of the state government to water works community and also the governor, Dr. Abubakar Sani Bello for his doggedness.

Meanwhile, Mr. Julius from Elohim Foundation asked why this news was not let out to the masses to at least know that the governments are making their little effort. He equally asked if there has been any history of vandal’s within the water works and as such wondered if the equipment’s would not be vandalized; being exposed to the public. Engineer Hassan answered by giving assurance that there had never being any and that they are all hopeful it shall note happen not even in there time.

The next stop was at the 1.0 and 1.5 MVA, and then to the plants manager Mr.Yahaya who took us across the low lift, he showed us how gravitational force brings forth water from Tagwai dam to water works stream-then to the sub-then to the horizontal pumps with 660 capacity cubic meter discharged capacity per hour.

The next stop was at the stoppage pumps which are interchanged by imprecit and by water plants for 6hrs. Meanwhile, some of the tourists took close look at the sub pumps.

The next stop was at the 2000kg standby generator use for only imprecit plants which is said to consume more than a drum of diesel per hour.

The next stop was at the water treatment processes/stages which were explained by Mallam Tsamiya Illiyasu Abubakar. At the water stages unit, we saw how the Coagulation process/stage which is the separation unit for water from dirt, then the second process/stage is fluctuation chamber where the dirt and particles flout on the water and the third process/stage which is the segmentation/clarification unit and this process separates dirt from the water and dirt which is done using the lamella plates. Then the filtration process/stage unit where fine sand, coarse sand and gravels are used as the base for filtering the water and this process is also called backwashing process which generates filter from water in the filter gallery before the final stage which is the disinfection process/stage where the use of alkaline and alum chemicals are used to disinfect water from any mineral/chemical contaminate.

The next stop was at the largest tank which contains 40million liters of water which is filled up after disinfection before distribution to consumers. Then we went to the laboratory which was not fully equipped but having hoped that EWASH will intervene in the building of new laboratory soon in both Minna and Suleja respectively.

The next stops were the Paiko tank and the disinfection chemical room. Afterwards, a group picture was taken then we all left water works chanchaga to Gidan ruwa to meet up with the general manager Niger state water board.

At Gidan ruwa, we witnessed a larger number of the SWB staff join the entire team that came from the Chanchaga. This forum was a question and answer session with the media and members of the tour team.

Question: Among the questions asked by the media team who are also part of the tour group after the public relations manager welcomed everyone and asked all for self-introduction, then the general manager warmly welcomed everyone present and asked for an opening prayer from the AGM water quality control.

After the opening prayer, the general manager thanked him and introduced himself first followed by the water board staffs present in the hall, then the media teams from NSTV, NTA, RADIO NIGER, RADIO NIGERIA KADUNA, NATION NEWSPAPER, and NEWSLINE; then lastly, TELEGRAPH NEWSPAPER, followed by Elohim foundation members, then FOMWAN association of Muslim women and other COS EWASH respectively.

After the self-introductions by all, the general manager asked Engineer Hassan for a briefing on the tour and what transpired, which he did briefly. After the briefing by Engineer Hassan, he handed over to the general manager water board who commended him, the tour guides and the tour group entirely. He later added that, 100 of millions of naira is been spent to reticulate  water and he would have loved it more if the entire water system chain is seen and toured but maybe next time.

Then he opened up discussions for the entire tour group to ask their questions, passed out their comments, recommendations, suggestions and observations in order to know how to go about the water processes better and also improve the water works in general.

Miss Susan and Mr. Jibo suggested that everyone should lay out their questions one at a time then the general manager can attend to them all at once. Among the questions asked are as follows to mention but few-

1. The first question was asked by a media person from Niger State Television also known as NSTV in person of Mr. Ndamitsu; what steps are taken or the massive involvement of the water works staffs and suggested for more media outlet and documentaries approach on the activities of  water works in order to let a word out to the masses on what is going on as water is concerned and the stages water goes through and also the processes  water passes through before it reaches them so as to know how valuable water is.
2. The second was a suggestion by another media person Mr. Dan from TELEGARPH NEWSPAPER, he seek the consideration of water works to present a special write ups and documentaries. He then added that if the water processes takes 24hrs, why then cant us have 24hrs water supply? And when was the first water board constructed and in what year?

He lastly added that if the workers at water works are been given special incentives, or paid for over time and health hazards compensations and also he concluded by suggesting an uplift of accommodations to promoted staffs.

3. The third question was from ISODAM, he asked, what the plan of water board is in generating and sustaining finances for water dams.
4. The forth question was from Mr. Julius Ibecheole, he asked what are those peculiarity challenges the water works wants Ewash to look into?
5. Adewale asked why Is water not everywhere bin minnna
6. Finally, the last question was asked by Radio Nigeria Kaduna media person, he complained about the staffs of water works working tirelessly for 24hrs and yet not having allowances.

Responses to question: The general manager thanked everyone for the questions and observations/suggestions. He then answered the first questions asked by the NSTV media person, he said that workers are not really fully involved in the installments projects and people in the electrical and mechanical are involved in the machine maintenances.

He added that, the workers have an experience on machine maintenance even though training them on special courses is a tremendous challenge that is yet to be tackled.

On the question on media publicity and campaign; he said it is the cost implication that is hindering that step as some projects involved have little budgets. So, getting the media on the list for publicity campaign is going to add up the cost that the budget can’t meet up.

He further defended himself that the board tries its possible best to carry out publicity in its own little way especially when heavy equipment’s are donated by the government and even during installations.

The general manager cried out on the stress and prolonging of machine delivery as the machines has special verifications, specializations and specifications.

He answered defensively on water 24hrs distribution; that no state government in the country could tackle that challenge and cannot tackle even cause is not that easy. That was why the president in 2015 declared a state of emergency on water works sector and this is because water reduced to a mere 7% in 2015 but either ways he assured that the board will step up on the media publicity campaign and he believed that the schools that is; universities, secondary’s and primary school students/pupils that come on school trips to water works will learn to appreciate water as they have seen how water processes and stages are.

He then proceeded to the Telegraph newspaper questions too by saying that they are considering a huge documentary on not only where the water system is as of now but also where it has been and where it would be in the future too especially the 63 water schemes including Rijau, Bida, Magama, Suleja and others on how they came to be.

The question on why can’t be 24hrs water supply; he answered that YES! The water supply equipment’s run for 24hrs but are impossible to give out 24hrs water supply due to the problem of power supply and generator support. He complained that the generator is a high voltage generator that consumes more than a drum of diesel per hour which is equivalent to over 200litres per hour. Meanwhile, the generator cannot be run for 24hrs looking at the cost of diesel now even though the government are trying their possible best with diesel supply which is not often and sometimes not enough.

He pointed out that no industry in Nigeria can run on electricity for 24hrs and that led to a quick shutdown of the textile industries in Kano and Kaduna respectively and also led to some industries moving to the nearest African country like Ghana.

More so, the government and AEDC are working together in improving the stability of power supply in the state bearing in mind that the government pays quite a huge sum of money monthly over 30–40million naira for adequate power supply at the water works.

Since 1995 during Abacha’s regime that was when the treatments plants were installed and they been working at full capacity ever. So, looking back at the population back then, the state has doted houses and minimum population not as the high number now which has made it so impossible to give out 24hrs power supply or water supply using these same old plants which are not fully rehabilitated yet.

The state government is working along with EWASH on the segmentation processes and chemical treatments he assured.

The general manager also said, they have up their game too by creating a mission and vision which they tagged as A.S.P.I.R.E.D. These core values took a lot of brainstorming and time with the staffs working for almost a week from Monday to Friday midnight to get it developed.

The core values A.S.P.I.R.E.D stands for the following-

A-Stands for ACCOUNTABLITY

S- Stands for SUSTAINABILITY

P- Stands for PROFESSIONALISM

I-Stands for INNOVATIVE

R- Stands for RELIABILITY

E- Stands for EFFECIENCY

D- Sands for DEDICATION

And these core values he said has a tag value which is water for life, waste to well.

With these core values he added that the water works will reach the 24hrs water supply in few years to come and will be able to supply urban centers with 24hrs water supply that includes working with external workers.

On the issue of incentives, hazard compensations, proper housing, accommodation and all, getting them he said has to be the provision of the government.

In the health and agricultural sectors he added have special allowances which is not from the government and water works according to the general manager have also appealed to the government for these incentives. He added that, water works has never been on strike and is not going to start from his regime as one of the tourist suggested a reaction from the board to the government and the reason for them not ever been on strike is because of the critical nature of their services. Meanwhile, they will appeal more with the government on financial support for these allowances.

He added that there are other African countries that are doing so well in the water sector but Nigeria needs to get their acts together and invest properly in the water sector and with that it will be setting an example to other African nations that are doing tremendously okay in their water sector and also in Niger state the government are trying on the water sector as the governor also declared a state of emergency on the water sector and also followed up with people that will install more pumping facilities.

One of the tour group members added that one of the issues that have been on for quite a long time is the beliefs that water is part of social service and this has become a massive believe of consumer and a general person thinking that water is free, that water should be given free. Also this massive believe has made the water system to be lacking behind greatly and has bring forth the closure and collapse of some sectors and companies like NITEL,  NIGERIA AIRWAYS, RAILWAYS and others.

He urged the setting and orientation that water is not for free; it has to be paid for.

The general manager continued that he believed firmly on commercialization and that the water works are not advocating for privatization but commercialization is necessary which will be a win ‘win’ for everybody as the people will be getting regular water supply and the government on the other hand will be unburdened from water scarcity complaints and the water utility will not be dealing with frustrations of lack of funds and some of the basic issues that they dealing with every day.

And also he added commercialization is very critical as it will drastically reduce government financial dependency.

The general manager went ahead in answering the question on why water supply is not in some part of Minna and that is because the water is been rationalized  and they are not conserving enough or reserving enough to distribute due to power supply shortage and limitations on the use of generator usage. And the reason for this limitation of generator usage is because the water works is the only place in Niger state that has a 2000kg generator which consume at least 250 liters of diesel per hour so imagine running this generator for 10 hrs using 250litres?

Finally the question on what is the future plan on facility maintenance and sustainability and when water works was constructed… he answered apart from working with EWASH on optional plan capacity, they working with the French development agencies for massive infrastructural development and in less than 10years they should be having a new water works in Minna cause the population is growing and building water works takes time which he gave an instance with the Zaria water project that took 15years and over 100billion naira was spent in Zaria to get it to where they are.

Niger State government has spent over 4billion naira on pumping equipment’s and to bring in consultants from foreign countries that performed visibility studies in the state. And also the water works was constructed when the first dam was made in Minna in 1949 which is the Bosso dam and at that time it wasn’t just a dam but there was a component of water treatment and the project started shortly after the Second World War in 1945. He added the Tagwai dam was commissioned in 1978 when Niger state was created there was an influx of civil servants from Sokoto to Minna and there was an urgent need to provide water and was constructed by WEAKA (water resources engineering of Kano state). And by 1982, the costumed water was divided into two and that is what is called Bywater now. By 1995, the Immprecit plant was completed and commissioned and is a 40,00cubic meter per day facility, the one by water is 47,000cubic meter per day.

The Bida plant was commissioned in 1965 and the Suleja plant was built by Immprecit together with Badeggi in 1963. In 1991 the Kontagora dam was commissioned along with the actual plant by General Ibrahim Babangida.

Another tour guide pointed out a suggestion for graphic message usage as to explain to a primary school pupil that the water his taking cost money.

The meeting came to an end as the general manger listed out but few some of the challenges they facing which includes: The problem of funding; people finding it difficult to understand the nature of how water works operates which is why they partnering with the media and EWASH so as to advocate water works to the public and advise them on how to overcome certain challenges. And also the Bida water supply was brought up and he said that the intermitted power supply which affects machines and sometimes leads to burning of electric motors is the cause of inadequate water supply in Bida but it will soon be restore as they planning on providing a 33KVA line to be taken to Bida town.

He added that, by engaging EWASH and media, there would be more accountability and transparency and also they will be able to pin point water works weakness, lapses and what they need to know through the media, COS and EWASH as they now know what it takes to supply water and also how the water scheme works.

The general manager water works finally thanked everyone for leaving their schedules to give time for water and with these he believed they all breaking new grounds and he is hopeful for a positive result partnering with EWASH.