By Stephen Ojo
Member Representing Lapai/Again Federal Constituency at the National Assembly Muhmoud Abdullahi has decried the ravaging effect of River Gurara on 38 communities in Muye Area
Mahmoud was speaking while carrying out an inspection tour of the disaster prone area at Muye in Lapai local government area of Niger state on Friday
“The impact of the flooding on the socio economic activities of the people within the affected communities is devastating and they have lost their means of livelihood over the years. This has crippled the socio economic activities of the people of the communities who are predominantly farmers and fishermen”, he said.
According to him, several attempts in the past by the federal government to provide lasting solution by constructing a retaining wall at the river bank have not yielded lasting solution.
The lawmaker said reprieve is however coming to the affected communities before the rainy season with the intervention of the National Hydro Electric Power Producing Areas Commission N-HYPPADEC to construct a new retaining wall at the river Gurara bank .
In a remark, the Director Operation of N-HYPPADEC, Engineer Ilyasu Abdullahi Wara, identified engineering failure as the major cause of the collapsed of the initial retaining wall constructed to prevent the menace of the river.
He said that the Managing Director of the commission Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa has approved the construction of a new retaining wall to addressed the effect of persistent flooding affecting those communities.
The federal legislator applauded the commission for the quick response to intervene by accepting to construct a new long lasting retaining wall to prevent the erosion from further causing disaster on the lives of the people