The House of Representatives Public Account Committee has raised concerns over the Ministry of Water Resources’ expenditure of N4 billion on the recruitment of 100 personnel for a three-month period under the Youth Engagement for Sanitation (YES) project across the 774 local government areas in the country.
This query was issued by Rep Bamidele Salam, the committee’s chairman, during an investigation into the alleged mismanagement of COVID-19 intervention funds from 2020 to 2022.
Rep Salam also expressed dissatisfaction with the ministry’s reported sinking of boreholes at costs ranging from N25 million to N12.5 million per unit, deeming it unacceptable.
The Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, defended the expenditures, stating that the boreholes were drilled in various locations across states and the FCT.
“In total, 299 new water schemes were embarked upon during the period, just as a total of 188 old and abandoned solar boreholes were resuscitated during the period,” she explained to the committee.
The committee members sought detailed information on the recruitment modality, the complete list of recruited youths, their account details, and the payment schedule sent to their respective banks.
Chairman Salam emphasized that the committee’s scrutiny would extend beyond the Ministry of Water Resources to other government agencies that claimed to have executed projects during the stated period, signaling a comprehensive project verification process.
