The Nigerian Meteorological Agency’s (NiMet) projection of a flood this year has prompted the Hydro Electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC) to engage the expertise of specialists to determine potential intervention locations.
This was revealed by the managing director of the commission, Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa, during a Sunday courtesy visit to the palace of Koton-Ohimege-Igu, Karfe’s Alhaji Abdulrazaq Sani Isah-Koto.
NiMet had warned the head of HYPPADEC that substantial floods could occur this year (2023) after the experience of 2022, necessitating the need for planning to lessen the impact of flooding from the two largest rivers in the nation.
In light of this, he said, the commission had started a critical assessment and appraisal of the six most affected local government areas in the state using experts from both inside and outside the commission to identify areas of intervention to lessen the effects of the floods that were likely to occur.
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“That’s why members of the governing council and the management committee decided to approve for us to come and meet with you and the ministry of Environmental 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 will solve the flood problems forever”, he said.
The traditional title holder of Katukan Yauri warned the 10 flood-prone local government areas and riverine communities in Kogi to guard against the NiMet prediction.
In his response, the traditional ruler, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Sani Isa-Koto commended the efforts of commission so far in providing succour for flood victims in the areas saying that HYPPADEC had become a household name in the communities.
He however, said that the red alert from NiMet over possible flooding this year, had left his people in fear even as they are yet to recover from the devastating effects of the 2022 flooding.
Story adapted from Leadership
