Nasarawa State Government has debunked an online media report alleging that over seven hundred million and seven naira was spent on refreshments and meals while rural water provision was neglected.
Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abdullahi Sule on Public Affairs Mr. Peter Ahemba refutes the claims in a statement signed and issued to newsmen in lafia, the state capital.
The statement clarify that the cited amount represents aggregated expenditures across the ministries, departments and agencies MDAs over the referenced nine months period, covering statutory and operational costs such as meetings, trainings, workshops, security and programme implementation.
The statement also quotes the Senior Special Assistant saying that, the expenditure is not in a single discretionary expense on refreshments and meals as erroneously portrayed by the ill-motivated publication.
It says, the government equally found the allegation of neglect in rural water access laughable, given the sustained investment in water infrastructure across the state under Governor Abdullahi Sule’s administration in the state.
“It is in a public knowledge that since 2019 when governor Sule took over the mantle of leadership of the state, significant reforms and interventions have been implemented through the state water supply and sanitation agency NASWASSA, ministry of water resources the state water board, and development partners, following the constitution of a water, sanitation and hygiene taskforce and the enactment of relevant enabling laws, the statement added…”
“Through these laudable initiatives the state government implemented appreciable number of water-related projects and carried out major rehabilitation and upgrades of water works in Doma, Keana, Awe, Lafia, Nasarawa Eggon, Keffi, Karu and several other towns, involving grid connections, pump replacements, dredging, borehole rehabilitation, plant renovations and procurement of operational equipments amounting to billions of naira, it says……”
Mr. Peter Ahemba further said, that, these visible and verifiable interventions spread across rural and urban communities of the state no doubt contradict any claims of neglect and call on the public to disregard the malicious publication in it’s entirety as it has no iota of truth.
“As we wish to emphasize that Investments in infrastructure, including education, healthcare, water supply, rural development, among other sectors form part of a comprehensive strategy to promoting sustainable development and improving the welfare of the citizenry as being championed by the state government……it added”
The government re-iterates the uncompromising stand of the state government towards prudent financial management, promotion of accountability in governance and prioritisation of essential services for the benefit of the people.
“In line with the openness of Governor Abdullahi Sule-led administration urge media outlets to always cross-check their facts before publishing to avoid misleading the public and undermining trust in government efforts…….the statement maintained ”
Rel/Aliyu Muraki/Lafia.
