Gov. Ishaku tasks Taraba residents on public infrastructure

Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba has urged people in the state to change their careless attitude towards public property, and described such behavior as “unhelpful”.

“We must see public property as our commonwealth and strive to protect it,” Ishaku said in Jalingo, at a town hall meeting on the state’s water sector reforms.

The governor said that his administration, in conjunction with African Development Bank (AFDB), was making huge investments in the water sector, to meet the water needs of the state.

Ishaku pledged to support the Taraba State Water Supply Agency (TSWA), through the deployment of technology and innovations, to achieve efficiency.

He promised to review existing laws to ensure the success of reforms in the water sector, and hinted that a board of directors would soon be constituted to give policy direction to the water agency.“We also plan to re-position the management of the agency for better performance,” he said.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr Emmanuel Gowon, had commended the governor for breaking the jinx of water scarcity in Jalingo.

He said that the governor had, on assumption of office, restored water supply to major towns and semi-urban centres across the state.

Gowon said that the governor had also consistently released funds to ensure constant water supply.

He said that government was working on the possibility of a technology transfer from Kenya, where people use their ATM cards to buy water, thereby reducing high cash volume at water selling points.