Young Nigeriens threaten to stop work on Zungerun hydroelectric dam – the Sun Nigeria

From John Adams, Minna

Youth under the auspices of the Coalition of Youth Associations of Shiroro in Niger State gave the federal government a two-week ultimatum to respond to their demands for adequate compensation from communities displaced as a result of the construction of the dam .

The youth association is also asking that the name “Zungeru dam” be replaced by “second Shiroro or Manta dam” since ninety-five percent of the land occupied by the dam is located in the local government area of Shiroro and not in the Wushishi local government area which contributed only five percent of its land to the construction of the dam.

Youth Coalition spokesman Comrade Salis Sabo said this while addressing reporters at the Kuta headquarters of the Shiroro local government area over the weekend, warning that the federal government should forget the date of commissioning from December 2021 as promised by Energy Minister Babatunde Fashola if their demands are not met.

Comrade Salis Sabo, who described as pathetic the situation of people from these communities displaced as a result of the dam’s activities, stressed that the young people will explore all avenues to assert their demands, including “taking legal action and obtaining a court order prohibiting the federal government from commissioning and continuing work on the multibillion naira Zungeru hydroelectric dam ”.

Comrade Salis Sabo further explained that they will additionally occupy the dam premises as part of a peaceful protest against the commissioning of the 700 megawatt Zungeru hydroelectric dam after having exhausted all constitutional means to seek redress.

According to him, they will also have petitioned the World Bank for the inability of the federal government to fulfill its terms of the agreement and the conditions for obtaining a loan from an international financial institution to finance the dam project. Zungeru hydropower plant.

The president of the Shiroro Youth Association, Comrade Usman Ibrahim Kuta, also wants those whose properties were not captured during the initial exercise to be captured and assessed with particular attention to those who have lost their property. land and became homeless as a result of the activities of the Shiroro Dam project.

A victim and village chief of Bawyi Malam Isa Usman Kuta, also speaking, lamented that more than 50 communities have been affected by the Zungeru dam project and that properties worth hundreds of millions of naira have been lost. destroyed while many people died from trauma they suffered due to the non-payment of their compensation and therefore called on the federal government to come to their aid.

The chairman of the Shiroro Local Government Council, Mallam Suleiman Dauda Chukuba, assured in his address to the young people of the governments to support their demands at all times in other media.

He then called on the federal government to provide adequate compensation and resettle affected communities to alleviate their hardship.