For residents of Gombe metropolis, the water crisis is not a matter of accounting terminology.
It is measured in the early morning queues at boreholes, the cost of buying water from commercial vendors, the search for functioning public taps and the uncertainty over whether water will flow when it is needed.
For more than seven years, the administration of Governor Muhammadu Yahaya has made several interventions aimed at improving water supply across Gombe State. The government says it has invested heavily in expanding production, rehabilitating ageing infrastructure, improving distribution, providing alternative power and strengthening the institutional framework around water supply.
Yet, despite these interventions, water scarcity remains a recurring reality for many residents.
That contradiction has now triggered a public debate over how much the state has actually committed to the sector, what has been spent, what has merely been appropriated in annual budgets, and whether the scale of investment corresponds with the experience of residents.
