Reports said the water crisis was fuelled by the negligent attitude of the officials of water board and the Ministry of Water Resources.
Mohammed Adamu is among many residents of Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, battling water scarcity. But Adamu’s case is exceptional. To keep his family alive, Adamu has to spend ₦2000 every single day from his small tea and noodle shop just to buy water from vendors popularly called Mai Ruwa.
Adamu’s plight is avoidable, if not for a multi-billion-naira water project that was shut down in his community two years after its establishment.
Damaturu is an arid part of the state where acute and unhygienic water supply has led to the death of many people. In 2001, reports noted that thousands of people migrated from Damaturu to neighboring Borno State because of water scarcity.
Reports said the water crisis was fuelled by the negligent attitude of the officials of water board and the Ministry of Water Resources.
As a result, Damaturu is becoming a deserted land because of the water crisis. In fact, it was one of the reasons that made the federal government decide in 2004 to establish a mega water facility.
When the facility was first launched in Sumsumma, Adamu’s community in Damaturu, the migration of people ceased. Sumsumma began to add in numbers with new structures coming up until two years later, when the borehole was padlocked. “Water is life,” said one of the residents. “And without it, it becomes difficult to live.” Multiple residents migrated to the nearest community (or used Mai Ruwa, the local water vendors selling in jerrycans) to get water.
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Adamu remains one of the few who refused to migrate. Instead, he used Mai Ruwa’s efforts to get sufficient water for his family, and he spends N2, 000 daily.
For some Nigerians, N2,000 daily may mean nothing. But for Adamu, it is something that he finds very difficult to do daily. Nonetheless, he does not have a choice. Adamu is a tea seller who makes approximately N4, 000 in his daily sales.
He said the increase in the purchase of goods has led to significant adverse effects in his business, cutting down the usual profits he earns.
At leasts, he said his profits are around “N4, 000” daily and it is from this, in fact, that he sacrifices N2, 000 daily for water. A total of N14,000 in a week and N56,000 in a month. If the government-built borehole had not been padlocked, Adamu would have used these funds to something else, perhaps more meaningful, like scaling his business which he said he had planned to do for the last three years.
“We had no water problems when it was first built,” Adamu says. “They gave us 12 taps across the community.” The community enjoyed the facility from January 2023 until September 2024, when they were told “the cables were stolen, and everything died.”
Damaturu Water Project
The intervention in Sumsumma, along with two others, formed part of a mega Damaturu Regional Water Project by the federal government. It is aimed at providing portable water in the state capital. With over N4.2 billion (out of N8.4b) paid, the contractors walked away, instead of providing the water. Of course, more than 50 percent of the project money was given for a shabby and unfinished work which directly violated Section 33 of Nigeria’s Public Procurement.
While the contractors walked away rich, the people, like Adamu, were left in serious danger. The expensive water that Adamu thought was safe because it came from government boreholes in Ibrahim Waziri, his neighboring community, turned out to be unsafe—full of bacteria, according to laboratory tests conducted in the University of Maiduguri.
The water analyst, Kaumi Ali Misherima of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Maiduguri, said the test results reveal contamination that vastly exceeds safe limits: while the WHO standard requires zero total coliforms (0\text{ MPN/100 mL}), this water contains 240\text{ MPN/100 mL}. This massive contamination by E. coli and Klebsiella, causes severe waterborne illnesses, including acute gastroenteritis (severe diarrhea, cramps, vomiting), dehydration, urinary tract infections, and pneumonia.
The project was first awarded under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration in September 2005 for ₦3.6 billion, based on a 50-50 counterpart funding arrangement between the Federal Government and the Yobe State Government. Although there is no trace of the released funds, residents stated that work—including the construction of some boreholes—was carried out between 2005 and 2007. However, throughout the administrations of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and former President Goodluck Jonathan, there was little or no commitment shown.
Work was revived in 2021 by late former President Muhammadu Buhari, who approved N8.4 billion to finish it. The goal was big: drill 30 deep industrial boreholes, combined engine and solar-powered, across three areas: Sumsumma, Mallam Matari, and Yanayiwa. These boreholes were to supply 6.5 million liters of treated, potable water per day to the capital of Damaturu.
Damaturu Water Project
The project was eventually split into three distinct lots awarded to separate contractors: Lot A: Awarded to Gamji Company Nigeria Limited for ₦3.7 billion in Mallam Matari. Lot B (Yanayiwa Project): Awarded to Ismade Integrated Nigeria Limited for ₦2.4 billion. Lot C: Awarded to Jidadu Ventures Limited for approximately ₦2.3 billion.
The money to build this lifesaver was paid out quickly. Government financial records from the Open Treasury Portal and Govspend show that between 2021 and 2023, the government paid N4,262,507,559 to three companies: Jidadu Ventures Nigeria Limited was paid N1.86 billion, Gamji Nigeria Company Limited was paid N1.73 billion, Ismade Integrated Nigeria Limited was paid N667 million for construction of Damaturu Water Supply Project at Sumsumma (Lot C), Malam Matari (Lot A), Yanayiwa (Lot B) respectively.
On April 30, 2026, this correspondent submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the office of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, seeking details regarding the contract and its current implementation status. Although the office officially acknowledged receipt of the letter, no response was subsequently provided. A staff member of the ministry who volunteered to follow up on behalf of this correspondent repeatedly reported there was no response from the office.
When contacted on July 22, 2026, the spokesperson for the ministry, Mrs. Funmi Imuetinyan said she was tracking the letter submitted by the reporter and promised to provide feedback, but she never did.
However, at the Sumsumma site, a tall signboard introduces a water facility by Jidadu Ventures Nigeria Limited. The facility has security fences, offices, and hundreds of expensive solar panels shining in the sun. But the gates are locked. Although water was enjoyed 24 months (from January 2023 and December 2024), the facility has sat completely dead and useless for almost two years, the residents said.
At the second site in Yanayiwa (also Damaturu’s community) most of the boreholes constructed by Ismade Integrated Service Limited did not serve any of its purposes. As if it was not enough, the company later abandoned the site to miscreants to vandalize valuables including panels and batteries.
Damaturu Water Project
At the third site in Mallam Matari, Gamji Nigeria Company did similar work but in a very big field and looked like much needed to be done. The company vanished, leaving expensive construction materials out in the open to rust and rot.
The security threat grew so severe that the Yobe State Ministry of Water Resources had to step in, spending state funds to hire neighborhood security guards just to protect the ruined remains of a failed federal contract. At the time of the visit, each facility had a maximum of three security guards.
According to some guards, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak, the facilities are too large for them to secure. The ten boreholes were sited outside the fenced facility—some a kilometer away in the bush—making patrols difficult.
“We were deployed here some months ago because miscreants were taking advantage of the boreholes in the bush. They removed cables and pulled Simor,” a local security guard at the Sumsumma facility said. He added that since their deployment, the facility has never worked.
Community leaders from all three affected areas, however, complained on how their members spent much on water while the project meant to help them sit dormant and abandoned.
Because the massive federal infrastructure is broken and regular state boreholes lack steady electricity, the residents of Damaturu are at the mercy of private water vendors. These vendors have turned a basic human right into an expensive business. The price for twelve 20-liter jerricans is from N500 to N2,000 depending on how desperate the neighborhood is. Areas like Sumsumma are hit the hardest; the price was between N1, 500 to N2,000.
Unlike Mohammed Adamu, families who cannot afford the Mai Ruwa’s effort in Sumsumma are left with the option of trekking long distances (sometimes 2 to 3 kilometres or more) in search of water. The most affected by this suffering are women and children.
“It is quite difficult to trek far distances and carry something heavy on your head but we are used to it,” and 18 year old Halima Musa, residents of Sumsumma, said. However, she noted it doesn’t affect her school because she does it after school hours.
The Sumsumma traditional leader represented by his son, Mohammed Bello, also confirmed the suffering in the community. He complained that there was no news on whether the government ever plans to fix the facility. He added that an electric borehole by Yobe State Water Corporation has been affected by poor electricity supply.
Damaturu Water Project
However, unlike in Sumsumma where the project worked for only two years and collapsed, in other communities of Yanayiwa and Malam Matari, the project never worked and remained incomplete.
As a result, Bulama Samaila Ali, traditional leader of Yanayiwa, said the whole community relied on a tap provided by the Yobe State University Teaching Hospital and the effort of Masu Ruwa who sell between N500 to N600 for 12 jerrycans. While the paid federal government facility remains a photo in the community.
“I was told 7 out of 10 industrial boreholes they constructed had failed before the remaining three also followed suit. We have never enjoyed a drop of water from it,” Bulama Ali said.
However, in Mallam Matari, the third site of the project, the residents are not only concerned that the project was abandoned but also about their lands which they said were confiscated without compensation.
“Our problem is the lack of compensation for land taken from us. We have followed up with the state government but for many years now nothing came out,” Bulama Usman said.
But the most terrifying part of this failure is the dangerous bacteria hiding inside the water jerricans the residents buy with the inflated prices. The residents never thought they were buying illness.
The University of Maiduguri’s water analyst said the water is massively contaminated by E. coli and Klebsiella.
In his analysis of the result, a medical doctor with Maiduguri Specialist Hospital, Dikko Nasir warned that drinking the contaminated water exposes one to aggressive, hard-to-treat diseases.
He explained that while E. coli is a well-known sign of sewage contamination, the doctor described Klebsiella as a “more feared opportunistic pathogen” that aggressively attacks vulnerable individuals. These germs trigger severe intestinal and bodily infections.
According to the doctor, “E. coli, a versatile pathogen causes intestinal and extraintestinal infections, such as acute diarrheal infections and urinary tract infections (UTIs).”
The warning becomes even more severe regarding Klebsiella, which the doctor noted causes “severe pneumonia and bloodstream infections.”
According to him, the bacteria in the water are highly resistant to standard medication “because of their roles in causing escalating antimicrobial resistance which complicates treatment and necessitates strict infection control.”
In plain terms, if a resident falls ill from this water, common antibiotics bought at local chemists may fail to cure them.
Damaturu Water Project
He advised that suspected drinkable water should be boiled, chemical tablets such as Chlorine or iodine be used and appropriate storage be done. He noted that the illnesses are spreading because human or animal waste has mixed into the water supply. To stop the spread, residents must cut off the bacteria’s access to the mouth.
A similar verdict was revealed by an academic research: Microbial analyses of municipal water in Damaturu metropolis Yobe State by Dr. Abubakar El-Ishaq which revealed a critically faecal contamination in groundwater (boreholes and wells). High levels of coliform bacteria, E. coli, and Salmonella often exceed World Health Organization and NAFDAC drinking standards, largely due to poorly sited septic tanks, cracked pipes, and unhygienic storage.
The Damaturu Regional Water Project would have been a lifesaver but stalled and the people of Damaturu are left emptying their pockets to buy water that causes severe bacterial illness.
Although community leaders of the affected areas have confirmed zero cases of the statewide kidney failure pandemic among their residents, their most frequent health challenges are malaria, typhoid, and cholera.
In Sumsumma, people like Adamu never thought these diseases could come from the water they buy for thousands of Naira.
“Our major challenges are malaria and typhoid, and it eats up a lot of our income,” Adamu said, lamenting how the financial burden is stopping him from achieving his dream of building a house to create space for his siblings in the family home.
Although there is no medical facility in Sumsumma to confirm these diagnoses, localized studies indicate a 30% to 41% prevalence rate for gastrointestinal and water-related illnesses (such as diarrhea and typhoid) among Damaturu populations that rely heavily on untreated water sources. According to reports between 2018 and 2024 the waterborne disease killed 9 to 61 people in the state.
The multi-billion Naira project built to save them sits silent—a monument to corruption—while the citizens outside its gates are forced to buy diseases, and contractors walk away rich.
Under Section 16(16) of the Public Procurement Act, contractors carry the burden of proving that they have fulfilled their contract requirements.
When contacted, the owners of Jidadu Ventures Nigeria Limited stated that they had completed their work. Because the overall project—including the other sites—is not yet ready for commissioning, the company handed it over to the state government so that local communities, like Sumsumma, could continue to benefit.
“The project is divided into three slots. We handled Slot C and finished our first phase earlier than the other contractors,” said Nan Don, the company’s project manager. “We were then approved for Phase 2, which included constructing overhead tanks, a water treatment plant, and piping to a central reservoir at the state water board. We completed Phase 2 and handed the facility over to the State Ministry of Water Resources on January 19, 2025.”
According to the company, the facility was operational from January 19, 2025, to July 19, 2025 (covering the six-month defect liability period). However, the Sumsumma community stated that the facility has been dormant since September 2024 (almost two years).
Although other residents disputed the date the facility stopped working and argued it was December 2024, a public servant who is familiar with the project confirmed that it was in September 2024, but the community continued to enjoy water up to December because it was reserved in a million-liter overhead tank inside the facility.
This analysis suggested that the company must have handed over a non-functional facility to the state ministry of water resources.
In order to clarify this, on the 9th June, 2026, this correspondent reached out to the spokesman of the state ministry, Sulaiman Baba Gimba but he claimed he was newly posted to the ministry and invited this reporter Damaturu to meet permanent secretary of the ministry: Saleh Muhammad Bello. While at his office (together with a spokesman and a few staff) the permanent secretary said he was not prepared to speak on the issue and asked this correspondent to consult the spokesman for feedback.
When contacted again through WhatsApp on the 22 July, the spokesman said he would make consultations and get back but he never did even after several reminders.
Meanwhile, the management of Ismade Integrated Services Limited offered a different perspective. Despite over half a billion Naira paid to the company, it claimed it left the site because it was still processing its second payment. Following their departure, the security personnel they hired also walked off the job due to unpaid wages. The company reported that the site was heavily vandalized afterward, with batteries and solar panels stolen.
“We are still officially on the project,” claimed Adeleke Adesun, a company representative. “We are currently in discussions with the Ministry of Water Resources to resolve a few issues before we resume work.”
However, sources within the company revealed a deeper conflict: the unpaid security men reportedly took items from the site as compensation for their missing wages.
“We suspect the security guards were involved in the vandalization,” a source said on the condition of anonymity. “They left the site without a proper handover and were caught with panels, pumps, and batteries. They claimed they were holding the equipment until the company paid them.”
The third contractor, Gamji Nigeria Company Limited, also spoke in response to a FOIA request letter delivered to their office in Abuja. The person who called introduced himself as the managing director of the company. Although he refused to share his name, open sources identified the company’s MD as Ambassador Abubakar Sunusi Gamji and Truecaller equally identified the caller as Alhaji Sunusi Gamji.
In a phone conversation, the MD confirmed that the company is still on site. However, explained that the company completed the first phase of the project, while the second phase stalled because the government has not paid for it.
“Covi19 affected our work in so many ways. Our scope of work has increased and money hasn’t been paid. And after Covid19 prices of materials had increased. The variation we sent has not been approved,” the MD said. He added that the scope of work the company did is large compared to money released to them.
“That 31 meters concrete tower water tank at the state water board we constructed. That is not a small achievement. It takes courage and professionalism to do that kind of work. But all our efforts are shattered. By now Damaturu people, including Teaching Hospital, should be enjoying water if not for the government’s poor handling of the project”, he said.
The company also admitted that there were instances of vandalism affecting their progress, but they failed to provide security to protect the site.
The security guards across all three slots confirmed they were eventually employed directly by the State Ministry of Water Resources to stop miscreants from further vandalising the facilities, a detail the ministry’s spokesman, Mr. Gimba, also confirmed.