Aug 05, 2026 (Daily Trust/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --
The Chairman of Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Dr Manzo Maigari, has lamented that communities hosting the Gurara Dam have remained without electricity and potable water despite bearing the environmental and security burdens of the multi-billion-naira facility.
Speaking at the North Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (NHYPPADEC) stakeholders' engagement meeting in Kaduna, Maigari said it was unjust that the dam supplies water to the Federal Capital Territory while its host communities continue to live in darkness.
The meeting was chaired by the Managing Director of NHYPPADEC, Abdulrazaq Sadig Yelwa.
Maigari said the situation had become more painful as the dam had also fuelled worsening insecurity, displacement and the collapse of farming activities in Kachia and neighbouring Kagarko Local Government Area.
The chairman linked the growing insecurity in the area to economic activities around the dam, saying the availability of water had attracted large-scale farming and livestock businesses, which in turn drew armed criminals.
According to him, the violence has displaced thousands of residents and crippled agricultural production, the main source of livelihood in the area.
Maigari estimated that between 150,000 and 200,000 people had been displaced in Kachia alone, with many now living in internally displaced persons' camps where available facilities were overstretched.
He urged NHYPPADEC to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to ensure host communities are connected to electricity and potable water before the refurbished Gurara hydroelectric plant begins full power evacuation to the national grid.
Responding, the NHYPADEC Managing Director, Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa, reaffirmed the commission's commitment to addressing ecological and socio-economic challenges in hydroelectric power-producing communities.
COMTEX_490102270/2029/2026-08-05T03:51:37
by Mohammed I. Yaba
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