Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC) says it is set to train and empower a total of 60,000 skilled and unskilled youths in Kwara state in the next five years to take them out of poverty.
Speaking at a stakeholder’s meeting of the commission in Ilorin, the HYPPADEC consultant, Mr Sam Juwl, said that the commission would also provide 250 housing units to those displaced by flood from riverine communities.
The proposals were contained in HYPPADEC’s Medium Term Strategic Plan (HMTSP) 2022-2027 presented at the stakeholder’s forum.
He said while non-graduates would be trained in vocations such as tailoring, paintings amongst others, graduates, on the other hand, will be trained in advanced skills including ICT, installation of circuit camera television (CCTV) devices, solar panels installations amongst others.
In his speech, HYPPADEC ‘s managing director, Abubakar Yelwa, said that the commission has got the approval from its governing board to provide 250 houses to people displaced by flood from riverine communities.
He, however, decried the lack of compliance by generating companies in all six HYPPADEC states in the payment of their dues to the commission.
“If not for the grace and support of the governors of the six HYPPADEC states, HYPADEC offices would have closed by now because what is due to HYPADEC from generating companies had never been paid to HYPPADEC to date.
“In fact, some of them are even arguing and trying to see that there is no justification in paying what is due to be paid to support these communities. Some of them are arguing that they should be allowed to work it out on their own and which should not be the case,” he lamented.
Earlier in his address, Chairman, Governing Council of HYPPADEC, Barrister Joseph Ityav, said the essence of the meeting was to have stakeholders’ input into the proposed plan with a view to ensuring that its implementation was carried out according to their communities’ needs assessments.
Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, represented by the secretary to the state government, Professor Mamman Shaaba Jibril, called for the dredging of River Niger to put an end to the recurring flooding wreaking havoc in riverine communities.
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