The Managing Director, Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC), Alhaji Abubakar Yelwa, reportedly said the Federal Government needs to have over $20 billion to dredge River Niger, River Benue, and River Kaduna.
According to him, the motives behind the dredging during this rainy season was to check perennial flooding in affected areas.
Yelwa, who stated this during the 2023 stakeholders meeting on flood mitigation and other related issues, noted that the clamour by Nigerians for the dredging of the affected rivers would be difficult for the Federal Government to handle without intervention from international donor agencies.
While responding to suggestions from participants for the dredging as part of solutions to the annual flood disaster affecting riverine communities under the commission’s areas of focus, he further said that the estimated cost for dredging of the rivers as of 1983 when the Federal Government asked for the price was $2 billion.
According to him, the cost had astronomically gone up over ten times, adding that the funding of the project was beyond the commission and the Federal Government.
He said it was not what HYPPADEC or the Federal Government could fund without making recourse to international organisations for intervention, adding that they are working towards mobilising international donor agencies for intervention.
He said the commission would embark on an afforestation programme to mitigate flooding in 2023, saying that trees would be planted on five hectares of land in each of the five local government areas.
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