By Sunday Elom
The Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC) has announced strategies it is adopting towards dealing with the peculiar challenges facing identified 150 hydropower host communities in Nigeria.
Speaking during a five-day retreat of the Governing Council of the Commission in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, the managing director of HYPPADEC, Abubakar Yelwa, said the commission had conducted a study covering over 227 political wards, with the aim of discovering their basic needs and challenges.
The HYPPADEC boss said the survey found out that during rainy reason, the host communities become devastated with their farms, homes, schools, hospitals and business premises being flooded.
“The ecological challenges they are faced with are enormous, which deprive them of the chances to improve even on their livelihoods, those are the major challenges the communities are really going through.
“Host communities have a lot of challenges in terms of infrastructural development, setbacks, the mandate upon us is to give these communities face lift, provide them with manpower development to bring succour to their hardships,” he said.
According to him, there is an urgent need to provide pipe borne water for the 150 communities. “For that reason we have submitted a no objection request for the need for public procurement for award of solar powered boreholes to over 120 communities and plans are on the way for the construction of at least 10 hand pumps in each political ward of the commission,” he said.
Speaking further, Yelwa said that there are also plans to rehabilitate dilapidated primary and secondary schools, health centres.
He named the Commission’s sources of funding to include, 50% ecological fund, Nigeria’s federal government, and 10 percent revenue generated by hydroelectric power generation companies, among others.
HYPPADEC has members of council from Kebbi, Niger, Kogi, Kwara, Plateau and Benue states; whereas these are the six states that are members of the Commission. The Act however made provision for any state that has a new hydroelectric power producing dams to also be admitted into the Commission.
Apart from the listed core states, the Northern and Southern states of Nigeria have one representative each in the Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission HYPPADEC was signed into Law in 2010, but it only took effect just this year.
Be the first to know when we publish an update
