Niger State government orders demolishing of Police Station on pipeline 

The Niger State Government in North Central Nigeria has ordered for the pulling down of the Divisional Police office and other buildings on water pipeline in Minna, the state Capital.

The Governor of the State, Abubakar Sani Bello gave the directives during an inspection of broken water pipelines preventing normal water supply to not less than 200 residents in the area.

A statement by the Spokesperson of the Governor, Mary Noel Berje mentioned that Governor Sani Bello expressed displeasure on why structures including a Police station will be built on water pipeline which leads to shortage of water in one of the biggest reservoirs in the state Capital.

“I decided to come and see for myself that there were buildings on the pipeline including this Police station. So they stopped pumping water because there is a burst on the pipeline and water is pouring all over the place.

“The Ministries of Lands and Water Resources should do the needful, they can’t deprive people of water because of few buildings”.

He reiterated that his administration in 2016, made a lot of investments in buying low and high lift pumps as well as other accessories to ensure adequate and constant clean water supply to the people adding that not being able to pump water due to busted pipe is not encouraging.

The Managing Director (MD), Niger state Water and Sewage Corporation, Hassan Mohammed Chado, explained that the busted water pipeline was laid over 40 years ago, pointing out that there was no building around the area at the time.

Chado further explained that the buildings on the pipeline have been there for about 30 years and efforts were made to notify the relevant authorities but no corresponding actions were taken.

“It was 3 years ago that we started having challenges of busted pipe under the Police Station and that efforts are on to remove the buildings from the pipeline as the situation has impacted negatively on the supply of water to about 200 residents in the area.” 

Governor Abubakar Sani Bello had earlier inspected parts of the Chanchaga Water Works to assess its working condition.