From Mathew Jwantu,
Minna
Youth under the eagies of Concerned Shiroro Youth of Niger State, have kicked against the haphazard compensation and poor resettlement plan by the authorities handling the Zungeru Power Plant in the state.
Addressing Journalists during a press briefing, jointly conveyed by Bello Ibrahim and Sani Abubakar usufructuary Kokki, the youths decried the monumental fraud arising from crass negligence and complacency from the conspiracy of the handlers of the dam project.
The conveners noted the myriad of complaints emanating from the victims of the dam project regarding the way and manner the enumeration in the build up to dam construction was carried out.
” Based on our thorough findings, many people were not captured during enumeration, and up till date, their issues have not been revisited.
The youths lamented that the affected communities are without shelter, while they have become refugees on their ancestral land.
They said during compensation proper, monumental and catastrophic scam took the centre stage by way of grossly shortchanging all people directly affected by the dam project.
Also, the youths bemoaned the devastating flooding due to water backlash that has started manifesting among the host communities, leading to complete submerge of entire villages and their farmlands.
Similarly, the youths noted the wrong naming of the dam as ” Zungeru Hydro electric dam, even when Zungeru is not part of the host community.
They said while Zungeru is in Wushishi local government area of the state, all the affected host communities that are bearing the brunt of the dam location are in Shiroro council area.
To this end, the requested that the name of the dam should be changed to ; Gungu Dam, Manta Dam or Shiroro Dam, for justice and equity.