The National Hydro-Electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (N-HYPPADEC) has admitted Kaduna, Taraba, Nasarawa and Gombe states as hydro-electric power producing states.
The development has brought the number of states in the commission to 10, said the Managing Director, Mr Abubakar Yelwa, at the opening of a-five-day training on Tuesday in Kaduna.
The capacity building training with the theme, “Social Standard Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes Necessary for Effective Community Engagement and Sustainable Rural Development”, was organised for executive members of the commission.
Yelwa explained that the admission of the four states as members of the commission was made possible by the new Electricity Act, recently signed by President Bola Tinubu.
He added that the membership of the states would help to address the challenges of flood being faced by host communities, particularly those living along riverbanks.
According to him, the step will help in addressing the hardship being experienced by the communities, due to electricity generation activities in dams located in their areas.
“The hardship ranges from loss of lives and means of livelihood to environmental degradation.”
He explained that the training was organised by the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Centre of Excellence, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi.
He said that the training, organised for 86 executive members drawn from the member states, was designed to build their capacity for better community engagement.
This, according to him, will equip the executive members with the needed skills to deliver the mandate of the commission.
He also said that the commission had created a new Agricultural Division in the Directorate of Community and Rural Development, to increase the scope of work and responsibility for the directorate.
In his remarks, Prof. Mohammed Abdulazeez, Vice-Chancellor, ATBU, said that the participants would learn practical ways of tackling domestic and environmental challenges.
Abdulazeez said that the training would equip participants with practical knowledge of the environment and help them to procure what would be needed by communities to prevent floods.
According to him, the skills will also help the executives to create social standards of prevention of flood and other environmental degradation,” he said.
“The main target is to mitigate societal challenges; address community needs; and proffer solutions to communities faced by flood and other environmental challenges.
