Aideloje Ojo
Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger state has directed the 11 delegates representing Niger state at the ongoing National Conference to demand for the control of Hydro-electric Power dams in the state, insisting that power generation and distribution should be decentralised.
Aliyu declared this yesterday after meeting with the delegates from the state adding that it was morally and financially wrong for states or private investors to construct power plants, generate and distribute electricity only for such organisations to plough such generated power to the national grid.
He also directed delegates representing the state at the conference to push for the full implementation of the Hydro Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC), the bill which President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has since signed into law.
The delegates were told to lobby their colleagues for the full execution of the provision of the bill because it was the solution to the annual problem being faced by people in the riverine areas and flood plains of the three Hydro Electric Dams situated at Jebba, Kainji and Shiroro with another one under construction in Zungeru all in Niger state.”
The delegates under the leadership of the former governor of the state, Engr. Abdulkhadir Kure, were also mandated to demand for necessary compensation from the relevant authorities for power being generated from these dams.
“The state is of the opinion that the ‘current onshore, off shore dichotomy should be renegotiated to the extent that states will be allowed to harness their natural resources. Niger state and the entire northern states should also canvass to make land a valuable resource.”
The stakeholders also asked its delegates to ask for the institution of a Horizontal Revenue Allocation Formula which will see all states getting equal amount of 36 per cent of whatever accrued to the federation account, population of states and local governments should also get 30 per cent, population density two per cent land mass 20 per cent and terrain five per cent.
