HYPADEC: SENATOR CALLS FOR INCLUSION IN 2011 BUDGET

Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta (PDP, Niger East) has called on the Federal Government to include provision for the take-off of the Hydro Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPADEC) in the 2011 budget.

Speaking to newsmen yesterday on the status of the law establishing the commission, Senator Kuta said President Goodluck Jonathan has since assented to  the act and the commission will soon begin operation to alleviate the sufferings of hydro-power producing areas in the country.

According to Kuta 'the commission will take off next year but the most important thing is that the bill has been passed into law.'

He said the law doesn't require a ceremony for the President to sign it into law adding 'the office of the clerk, the senate president and the legal department of the national assembly have already been communicated. The legal department is prparing to send the assented bill for gazetting. The bill has already been passed as required by section 58(3) of the 1999 constitution. There is nowhere in the provisions of our constitution that requires that everything that is going to be assented to must be accompanied with a ceremony.'

The proposed establishment of HYPADEC with headquarters in Minna, Niger State, is expected to ameliorate the suffering of communities in Kogi, Niger, Kwara, Kebbi and Plateau states that are directly affected by environmental challenges posed by the hydro-power dams.

The three dams located at Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro in Niger State together producesabout 2000 megawatts of electricity and contribute about 50 percent of the energy for the country.