The district heads of Kuta, Galadima Kogo, Allawa, Gurumana, Manta are losing their grip on the over 300,000 of their subjects, who are in the centre of the compensation crisis over the construction of the Zungeru hydro-electric dam in Niger State.
The Hakimi Manta, Alhaji Adamu Jiko, said he was banished from his domain by his own subjects on the suspicion that he aligned with their “enemies” against them. The village head of Zungeru, Malam Tanko Madaki, was forced to go on “exile” to avoid being lynched by his own people.
Several times the youth from the affected districts marched on the dam site where construction work on the 700-megawatt electricity project is going on, throwing stones and driving away the Chinese workers handling the project. And in all those times, interventions from the Emir of Minna, Alhaji Umar Faruk Bahago, saved the day. But happenings in Gurumana, penultimate week, made it obvious that the people’s anger reached a boiling point.
This district head of Gurumuna, a retired soldier, appeared helpless in the situation. His Sergeant Major’s baritone voice was drowned in the staccato of the shouts from the crowd that gathered in his palace, awaiting a group of journalists on a fact-finding mission to the community. The crowd was just a fraction of the over 300,000 men, women and children that will be affected by the hydro-power project.
From the commotion, their message could be easily discerned. They had agreed to sacrifice their ancestral land for the good of the country but they need to be compensated for the loss of their land, and demand a place to relocate to far away from the hazards of the project.
Former president Goodluck Jonathan promised to meet their demands when government commenced the project on May 28, 2013, and the representatives of the federal government and the affected communities met and reached agreements on how to achieve that.
The Niger State Ministry of Land was approached by the Federal Ministry of Power to produce a copy of the approved compensation rate in use in the state to guide it in the payment of compensation to people affected by the power project, through a letter with reference No. FMP/1503/28 dated August 27, 2013.
The land ministry advised that the rate to be used should protect against post-compensation controversy.
The donees’ attorneys, however, warned that the failure of the acquiring authority to commence process of compensation immediately after the assessment would attract interest on the property. They quoted a section of the Land Use Act, especially section 29 (4), which provided for payment of interest at bank rate for delayed payment of compensation.
The donees’ attorneys also drew the attention of the Power ministry to the pending issue of resettlement of their clients in the same letter. They said the resettlement areas have been identified and a firm of land surveyors was instructed by the Minna Emirate Council to carry out proper survey, which they said has since been concluded.
The attorneys also drew attention of the acquiring authority to the fact that those who are also giving up their farmlands as new sites for the displaced persons need to have their crops assessed for compensation before the rainy season of the succeeding year. Similarly they also argued for the need for those leaving for the new site to be paid their compensations immediately to allow them to resettle and also prepare their new farmlands before the rain commenced in February/March 2014.
The Minna Emirate Council re-echoed the position of the solicitors through a letter dated October 23 that both parties should meet and iron out all differences before compensation is paid.
At a meeting between one of the government appointed valuers and other stakeholders at the Minna Emirate Council on November 13, 2013, it was resolved that payment of compensation shall be based on the report of the government-appointed valuers’ summary report which shall, however, be availed to the attorneys prior to the commencement of payment of compensation. Complaints, if any, arising in respect of the enumeration, assessment and payment of compensation shall be made during the payment exercise or after and addressed by both the acquiring authority and the displaced persons’ attorneys.
The attorneys also, on January 8, 2014, demanded the summary of compensation report showing payment due to each affected person.
However, before the rainy season of 2014 set in, the federal government and its appointed agents had not met the above demands and a compensation rate, lower than the World Bank standard, was used, contrary to the one in use in the state.
Daily Trust on Sunday learnt that sums ranging from N6,000 to N100,000 as compensation payable for loss of economic trees and crops covering huge portions of land were listed. The people and their attorneys argued that the unacceptable figures defy all rules of compensation in Nigeria laws, adding that it is arbitrary.
“Our people find these unacceptable,” the emirate cried out in a letter of complaint to the power ministry, demanding that it be furnished with enumeration certificates of all claimants. It also demanded that the ministry adopt the valuation report of the appointed attorneys for the purpose of compensation payment, advising that figures be reviewed upwards by, at least, 200 percent.
The emirate urged the ministry to look into the complaints of omission of names of claimants, warning that its subjects were becoming restive.
But Daily Trust on Sunday learnt that the ministry and its consultants ignored the pleas and commenced selective payment of some persons directly, using the rate in contention in respect of economic trees and crops.
In Luwa, Gungu, Rafin-Gora, Mashigin, Gurumana and Guriya, among others, names of some claimants were missing from the enumeration list, while some communities were completely left out. The situation went on like that through the 2014 rainy season into 2015, with claimants afraid of cultivating their lands because of the project. “The process of compensation for economic trees and farmland is fraught with irregularities,” Ibrahim Isiyaku, lead counsel to the claimants, said.
It was learnt that the issues of resettlement and compensation for structures were not addressed. The locations where the emirate selected for their resettlement still lies fallow while the people of the areas, where the claimants were supposed to relocated to, have not been enumerated for compensation.
Worried by the development, the attorneys to the claimant approached the Minna High Court to compel the federal government to enforce the rights of the claimants. “We have to go to court to get them to comply with the power of attorney and the court ruled in our favour,” Isiyaku said, adding that the federal government refused to honour the court’s order on the matter.
In Gurumana, penultimate week, angry claimants threatened to halt the 700-megawatt project with youths of the community saying that their patience has run out. “We give them just two months after which we will drive out the Chinese workers and stop the project,” a resident vowed.
The senator representing the Niger East, David Umaru, said the people were right to be angry. He said some of the communities have over the years seen their farms washed away by the Shiroro dam, adding: “Now you said you are constructing another dam and they agreed to leave their ancestral homes, shrines and other things that tied them to the place but you chose to play around with them.”
He said the affected communities are without electricity, despite donating their part of their land for the Shiroro project.
“The Ministry of Mines and Power owes us a lot of explanation on why this is happening right now. We will explore all options that will bring succour to the affected communities,” he said.
However, the Federal Ministry of Power, in Abuja, said the compensation process is on course with monies ready for disbursement.
A top official who spoke with Daily Trust on Sunday said the ministry will obey the directive from the court.
The official, who maintained that he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said: “All the evaluations that we did have been processed and mandates have been submitted to the bank for payments… Initially we started the payment for everyone that will be affected by the reservoir.
“For the resettlement, there are 35 sites around the dam. The sites have been assessed and compensations calculated. The money will be transferred to the Niger State account to pay and the mandate is in the bank too. The state government is aware as we have written a letter to them,” he explained.
The official added: “When budget is released, these monies will start hitting their accounts as they have been processed. The omissions and adjustments, especially on low rates, have been computed and agreed between the ministry’s consultants and their attorneys, and they have signed.”
