Follow Us on Google
From Layi Olanrewaju, Ilorin
The Chairman of the Governing Council of the Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC), Barrister Terfa Ityav, has reiterated the commitment of the body to keep up with its development plan.
Speaking to journalists during a four-day working visit to Kwara State, Barrister Ityav revealed that the policy thrust of the commission includes education, agriculture, entrepreneurship, health, infrastructure and security.
“We are in Kwara State to inspect and verify some of the projects that are being done by the commission which are in line with our two to five years plan”
The Chairman passed a vote of confidence on the management committee of the commission for the execution of some of the projects which he said bear direct impacts on the host communities even as he noted some grey areas
“Kwara is the third state after Kebbi and Niger that we are visiting to assess the level of work done by the management committee. We give a vote of confidence to them because projects that have been shown on paper are actually existing and even though there are some projects that are not up to the standard that we expect, we believe they are the first of its kind and we are going to correct it.”
Noting that the visit also avails the agency an opportunity to interact with the people, he emphasized that the commission will consider some of the requests from communities in view of its budgetary allocation and capacity.
“We have received a lot of requests from communities and we will consider them under our development plan, budgetary allocation and capacity,” he said.
In his own remarks, the Managing Director of HYPPADEC, Alhaji Abubakar Yelwa revealed that the rationale behind the visit to all the communities is aimed at ascertaining the level of projects compliance with their design and specifications.
Yelwa expressed his delight that the “projects executed so far have met the aspirations of the communities and I assure you that the commission will not relent in its efforts to ensure that the right quality of projects is delivered.”
The working visit saw the members of the governing council and management staff of HYPPADEC paying courtesy visits to traditional rulers in Edu, Patigi and Moro local government areas of the state where projects are monitored and handed over to the host communities.
Amongst other things, HYPPADEC, within two years of its inauguration has constructed schools, drainages, solar-powered street lights, conducted medical outreach and distributed motorcycles to aid the security network of the communities in Kwara State.
The Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission was established by an Act of the National Assembly to address ecological challenges from the operations of Hydroelectric Dams.
Its focus covers six states of the federation which includes Benue, Kwara, Kebbi, Niger, Plateau and Kogi under which 56 local governments, 229 political wards and 1085 communities are being adorned with critical projects.
Reacting after the handing over of a block of three classrooms to the Yikpata community by HYPPADDEC in Jebba, Arisekola Abdulazeez, said that the introduction of the schools will aid the learning activities of the children.
