HYPPADEC: CSOs wade in, call for dialogue

A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, the National Civil Society Council of Nigeria (NCSCN), Saturday, waded into the face-off between the management of the Hydroelectric Power Producing Area Development Commission (HYPPADEC), and some aggrieved stakeholders in the six host states of the commission.

The commission and its management had been embroiled in allegations of contract inflation, and job racketeering among others.

Last Thursday, the concerned youths from Plateau, Kebbi, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, and Niger states, under the auspices of the Concerned Stakeholders of HYPPADEC Host States Youth Wing, called on the presidency to investigate the activities of the commission.

But addressing a press conference in Abuja, the Executive Director of NCSCN, Comrade Blessing Akinlosotu, expressed the the readiness of the group to wade into the faceoff, and called on the parties involved to embrace dialogue to resolve the impasse.

He called on the management of the commission to step us its game, and engage in an-inclusive engagement with all the relevant stakeholders in the six host states of the commission.

Akinlosotu said his group had interacted with the HYPPADEC’s management, adding that he and his team were ready to lead the peaceful discourse that will be a win-win for all the parties involved.

To this end, he recommended that the commission should at least yearly train no fewer than 100 youths from the host states, stating that this would empower some of the aggrieved youths.

He said: “We are gathered here today over a matter of urgent national importance to brief the public on the raging controversies surrounding the allegations levelled against the Managing Director and Management of the Hydroelectric Power Producing Area Development Commission (HYPPADEC) by some purported Youth Leaders and Civil Society Activists.

“The National Civil Society Council of Nigeria (NCSCN) is very much aware of these very weighty allegations brought against the administration of Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa as the Managing Director of HYPPADEC. We wish to use this medium and privileged opportunity to tell the Nigerian, the Government, and the International Community that NCSCN has taken the time and pains to exhaustively and unbiasedly look into this matter right from the onset of this palaver to the most recent resurgence.

“This, we have discovered to be a well-calculated campaign of calumny against a young and remarkably performing administration and leadership of HYPPADEC. Our position is not to exonerate either the Managing Director or the Chairman, but to provide information in facts and figures for the members of the public to evaluate and make informed decisions about the petition.

“However, we don’t believe that witch-hunting, shadow chasing, and making of wild and baseless allegations should be encouraged. We call on the management of HYPPADEC to be more open, people-driven, and accountable to its stakeholders.

“The NCSCN has however, waded into the matter and discovered that the accusers were grossly misinformed and politically motivated to those negative actions. We, however, enjoin the leadership of HYPPADEC to go further in executing programmes that will focus more on human capital development and innovative skills transfer for the sustainability of economic growth of the host communities”.