HYPPADEC to control flood in affected states

Ini Billie, Uyo

The Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission, (HYPPADEC) has said plans are underway to control flooding in affected states for the economic benefit of the country.

Managing Director of HYPPADEC, Abubakar Sadiq Yelma said, if well managed, the controlled flood will support agriculture and other tourist activities in the affected states.

Speaking on Thursday in Uyo during a five-day Governing Council and Management retreat for the review of the strategic plan of the commission, Yelma noted that HYPPADEC is working hard to deliver on its mandate of addressing ecological challenges.

Yelma added that the agency would promote the socio-economic development of communities affected by the operations of Hydroelectric Dams in the six states of Niger, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Benue, and Plateau.

He said that for that purpose, the commission would host a flood management meeting with Commissioners for Environment of HYPPADEC States, where they would develop a paper that will be presented to the national flood management committee.

“We are working to develop a paper that will be presented to the national flood management committee set up by the Federal Government so that activities of flooding as they affect our communities will be addressed.

“We want the flooding to be controlled in such a way that it would be used for the economic benefits of the communities it will support agriculture and other tourist activities if it is well managed,” he stated.

The MD said to forestall the negative impact of flooding, the commission has announced meteorological information of flooding in some states of the federation which made the people to be on guard and avert huge losses.

“Another major thing we did was to give the warning signs when the major meteorological services gave us information that there will be flooding in some parts of the country we sponsored jingles, announcement through the media and other means of communication. We were able to control the level of damage this year compared to what we witnessed in the past years.

“As a result of our intervention in Benue State, there is a popular community that every year since 2012, flooding sack them, they lose a lot of their houses, lives and animals. But this year none was experienced because we were able to construct a drainage system that handled about 1000 metres of flooding.

“This is the type of intervention we want to be doing in all the states, if we have enough resources, we would have done so in all the states so that when it rains, people can go and sleep but the major problem is that the channels are being blocked as a result of human activities. Some people build on water lines and this should not be encouraged,” he explained

Yelma regretted that HYPPADEC states were bedevilled by some challenges. He added that to address such challenges, the commission has constructed classroom blocks, lifted about 5000 youths out of the streets, provided portable water with over 20,000 life jackets to water transporters.

According to him, the commission also excavated over 80 per cent of tree trunks that were causing marine accidents at the waterways and gave general empowerment and social support packages to the communities saying that the commission would do more with the availability of more funds.

He, therefore thanked the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission for its partnership in the strategic plan for HYPPADEC.

On his opening remarks, the Chairman of Governing Council of HYPPADEC, Joseph Terfa Ityav said the retreat was an opportunity to reflect on the last accounting year, share experiences, and ideas and foster a better working relationship.

“I am glad we have set aside this period of the retreat to examine our work and develop new ideas. Let us put all our energies together and better ourselves.

“In the past one year, we have made improvements in different areas. It is my belief that we can even make more progress,” he said.