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From Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
In its concerted bid to beat this year’s floods, with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) warning of worse flooding to come, the Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC) has visited vulnerable communities, providing necessary mitigation to them.
The commission has commenced the construction of 10 houses to accommodate those who are close to the riverine area in Mozum community in Bassa local government areas of Kogi state.
This is apart from numerous mitigation efforts by the commission which has enlisted the services of experts to identify areas of possible interventions for over 100 communities in the 10 local government areas affected by floods in the state.
Inspecting the parcel of land donated by the Mozum community on Monday for the construction of the 10 houses, the Managing Director of HYPADEC, Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa, said the commission will do everything possible within its powers to ensure that no life was lost in this year’s flooding and that the effects on the flooding will be greatly reduced.
Against this backdrop, he said the Commission had embarked on a critical assessment and appraisal of the six most affected local government areas in the state using experts from within and outside the commission to identify areas of intervention to mitigate on the likely effects of the floods.
“That’s why members of the Governing Council and the Management Committee decided to approve for us to come and meet with the traditional rulers, and all stakeholders including the Ministry of Environment and other government agencies to see what intervention we can implement before the rains set in.
“We have done a lot of studies and met a lot of consultants to ensure that what we want to do here and in other parts of the state will permanently solve the flooding problems and that the construction of the houses for the targeted victims meets up with the requisite safety standard in conformity with global best practices” he added
While thanking the traditional ruler of Mozum, Alhaji Khalid Bukar Alli for donating the land for the construction of the houses for the affected persons, he said the Bassa local government in conjunction with the traditional rulers and all other stakeholders in the area will be consulted on the allocation of the houses to those in dire need
For his exceptional achievements in office and his love for the community, the Mozum monarch later conferred on the HYPADEC boss the traditional title of Galadima of Mozum Kingdom.
