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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has said that the newly commissioned Bwari Township Water Supply Network would improve public health, reduce dependence on private boreholes and open fresh economic opportunities for residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Speaking yesterday at the commissioning in Bwari, where he was represented by the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, the President said the 198-kilometre pipeline, constructed by China Geo-engineering Construction (CGC) Limited and linked to treated water from Lower Usuma Dam, would deliver safe drinking water to Bwari, Ushafa and neighbouring communities and thereby reduce the incidence of waterborne illnesses.
“The project will improve public health by reducing waterborne diseases, eliminating the costly reliance on private boreholes and creating new economic opportunities,” Tinubu said, highlighting the three-fold public benefits of the new network.
The President said access to potable water is a fundamental right and a central element of his Renewed Hope Agenda. “The Renewed Hope Agenda is not a slogan. It is a contract. It is a deliberate, calculated and unyielding commitment to governance that works for the people,” he said, adding that infrastructure must go beyond Abuja’s glittering city centre to satellite towns long left behind.
“For too long, the narrative of Abuja has been a tale of two cities, a glittering centre surrounded by underserved communities. We said no. That era is gone. Nigeria belongs to all of us and development must be decentralised,” he declared.
Tinubu said treated water from Lower Usuma Dam would sharply reduce residents’ reliance on streams, shallow wells and untreated boreholes; sources commonly associated with diarrhoea, cholera and other waterborne diseases.
“The project will improve public health by reducing waterborne diseases,” he said, repeating the health claim and stressing the human cost that untreated water has imposed on communities. Health experts frequently attribute outbreaks of diarrhoea disease to contaminated sources; municipal networks supplying treated water are proven to lower such burdens by interrupting transmission pathways.
FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, reiterated the health argument and placed the Bwari pipeline within a broader strategy, saying, “Since Mr. President came into office in 2023, he has provided water for the city centre, water for Karu and neighbouring communities, and today, water for Bwari.
“Let people know that we are not concentrating only on roads; we are making sure other sectors are also being touched.”
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Beyond health, Tinubu emphasised that the project would relieve households of the costly reliance on private boreholes. Private boreholes often involve upfront drilling expenses, ongoing generator fuel costs for electric pumps, and maintenance; burdens that hit low-income households hardest.
“Elimination of the costly reliance on private boreholes is one of the project’s explicit promises,” the President said, arguing that access to free or subsidised treated water from a public network would free household resources for education, healthcare and small-business investment.
The President also highlighted job creation tied to the project. “More than 1,600 direct and indirect jobs were created during the execution of the project,” he said, pointing to construction employment and downstream opportunities expected once reliable water supply supports trade, agriculture and small-scale industry.
The President used the commissioning to set water expansion as a continuing priority. “Last year, it was the Lower Usuma Dam Phase II rehabilitation. Last month, it was the Karu water network. Today, it is Bwari. Before our tenure ends, this water revolution will fully cover Kuje, Kwali, Gwagwalada and Abaj,” he promised.
The FCT minister framed the Bwari intervention as the third major water project under the current administration, following the Abuja city water-system rehabilitation and the Karu satellite-town project. “This project fulfils Mr. President’s directive that modern water infrastructure should be extended beyond Abuja’s city centre to satellite towns,” he said, adding that 50 major projects have now been commissioned in the FCT since May 2023.
He linked the scale of delivery to presidential backing, saying, “You can be a minister, but without the support of the President, it is difficult to perform. Mr. President has given the FCT all the support required to change the narrative and we will not disappoint him.”
While officials celebrated the project’s benefits, Tinubu warned against vandalism, appealing to residents to protect the infrastructure. “This facility was built with public funds for the benefit of the people,” he said, urging local ownership as essential to sustaining service delivery.
FCT minister of state, Mariya Mahmoud, offered a vote of thanks and described the Bwari network as another milestone in the implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda.
She said the project would improve access to safe drinking water, enhance public health and restore confidence in government; framing reliable water service as a metric of the administration’s responsiveness.
Acting Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Richard Yunana Dauda, noted that the project had been completed ahead of schedule and emphasised its employment impact, saying the pipeline generated significant jobs during construction and would sustain livelihoods by making water-dependent enterprises more viable.
