Officials in northern Nigeria’s Kano State have rehabilitated a creaking water plant in the small town of Wudil, 30 km south of Kano city in an effort to bring residents cheap, safe water, but some question if the price will stay affordable.

“We now have safer, cleaner and tastier and cheaper water than what we were getting from private water vendors,” says resident Kamilu Musa.

The Kano government currently heavily subsidises the water it provides: it costs the state 13 cents to produce one cubic metre of water, but users are only charged one-tenth this cost, which is not sustainable said Yahaya Bala Karaye, managing director of the Kano State Water Board. Eventually, Karaye said prices must increase.

Corruption is also an issue according to Musa Abdullahi Sufi, project coordinator at the Kano-based NGO, Society for Water and Public Health Production: “In many cases clean water is supplied to the public at higher than real costs due to corrupt practices by water board officials”

But Karaye from Kano state’s water board disagrees: “Some people assume every government agency is corrupt and therefore make wild allegations without any concrete proof to substantiate their claims,”

Related news: Water flows for Asma’u in Nigeria, DfID, 18 Mar 2008

Source: IRIN News, 30 Mar 2009

Tags: africa, transparency, water supply