By Abubakar Yabagi
Water backwash from the Zungeru Hydro-Electric Dam, which is under construction, has washed away many houses and farmlands worth hundreds of thousands of naira in Layi village, Gijiwa/Kato Ward, Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
Layi Village is one of the villages around the Zungeru Electricity Dam currently under construction. The affected villagers now take refuge in the temporary huts they erected.
Sani Abubakar Yusuf Kokki, Co-convener, Concerned Shiroro Youths of Niger State, told our reporter over the phone that several other villages near the dam are also at risk of disastrous flooding as the water level rises daily due to preliminary dam water blockage to allow for construction.
“The village and its environs have been completely consumed and submerged by the catastrophic and ravaging flooding upstream as a result of water backwash arising from the preliminary blockage of water where Zungeru Dam is being constructed. The people have lost virtually all their belongings including farmlands, houses, and the rest. They are now without shelters; only a few of them have managed to erect makeshifts huts where they are currently taking refuge.”
Despite the fact that compensation for the communities around the dam had been promised, the affected villagers said they had not received theirs prior to the flood.
They pleaded with the state and federal governments to help them alleviate their suffering after losing their homes and farmland.