By Olayinka Owolewa
The Chairman of the Governing Council of Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC), Terfa Ityav, has reiterated the commitment of the body to keep up with its development plan.
Speaking during a four-day visit to Kwara on Wednesday, Ityav said 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, he said.
The chairman lauded the efforts of the management committee of the commission for the execution of projects with direct bearing on the host communities.
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 papers are actually existing, he said.
Ityav said that the commission would keep improving on the standard of its projects where lapses are noticed.
He said that the commission would consider some of the requests from communities in consonant with 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.
The Managing Director of HYPPADEC, Alhaji Abubakar Yelwa, disclosed that the visit to the communities was to ascertain the level of projects compliance with their design and specifications.
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, Yelwa said.
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.
HYPPADEC 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 within its two years of inauguration.
It was established by an Act of the National Assembly to address ecological challenges from the operations of Hydroelectric Dams.
Its operations is carried out in six states; Benue, Kwara, Kebbi, Niger, Plateau and Kogi comprising 56 local governments, 229 political wards and 1085 communities.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Ismail Abdulaziz
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