The Emir of Kontagora, Alhaji Saidu Namaska has been living with his family within the gargantuan edifice of the Kontagora palace, but for 36 years of this stay, the palace had depended only on a local well for his household’s water needs.
The Emir revealed this in his palace to visiting Governor of Niger State, Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu. Dr. Aliyu was in the palace during his campaign for his re-election ahead of the 2011 April general elections.
The royal father, however, thanked the incumbent governor for ameliorating their problem even though the hardship of the past can hardly be wished away.
Speaking through his secretary and Bunu of Kontagora, Alhaji Haruna Namaska, the emir intimated that it was not the emir’s palace alone that suffered water problem but the entire Kontagora community stressing that the people had suffered in abject deprivation over the years.
“The problem of water scarcity was a very major issue in Kontagora and the whole town was hit with acute shortage making it difficult for people to get enough water for their household needs.
“To make things worse, the locally dug wells became insufficient in sustaining the water requirement of the population, Bunu of Kontogora explained.
Alhaji Haruna said that the emir did not just fold his arms while his people suffered lack of something as essential as water, the royal father had on several occasions written to relevant authorities for help. He was grateful that help finally came under Aliyu Babangida’s administration.
The emir expressed delight and gratitude to the incumbent governor reacting that for the first time after so many years, the taps have water flowing from the dam.
He regretted that the people would not have suffered all they went through if only the dam located barely seventeen kilometres away was well utilised adding that the water capacity from the dam was sufficient for the entire kingdom.
The dam was constructed under the Alhaji Shehu Shagari administration in the early 1980’s but experienced breakdown almost immediately.
Investigation by Weekly Trust revealed that the dam has a crest of 100 metres, height of 20 metres total storage capacity of 17.9 million cubic metres with catchments area of 143 squares kilometres. It remains at full capacity all year round with spill ways at peak of rainfall to release excess water which will prevent the dam from collapsing.
In an interview with Engineer Haruna Musa, manager of the dam, it was revealed that the dam has six heavy pumps which are not optimally utilised due to low electricity supply. This problem has made it almost impossible for the pumps to be propelled to full operational use, a major reason why it cannot supply enough water to its teaming consumers.
“The issue of electricity still remains a major problem. We are not connected to the Kontagora line but we are presently on the Yauri-Koko line. All we need is a dedicated line to beef our service requirement”, he said.
Engineer Musa however expressed gratitude to the Aliyu led government for re-activating the concrete tanks which were once abandoned, adding that some broken down pumps have also been purchased to boost water supply.
I am glad to inform all that for the past three weeks since I assumed office as the manager of the place, water has been flowing to the palace of the emir and homes of people living in Kontagora.
“The only problem we have now is that the present electricity we are operating on is not powerful enough to carry our pumps, a situation that makes it difficult for water to be pumped from the dam to Kontagora town”, he said.
When fully operational, the dam can generate up to two million litres of water daily.
