A high court in Minna, Niger state, has directed the federal ministry of power to pay N1.1 trillion as compensation to the Samboro community in Madaka district, Rafi LGA over damages caused by the construction of the Zungeru hydro dam.
The village head of Samboro community Usman and 2,844 other members of the community had on April 27, 2023, approached the court through the counsel Muhammed Ndarani Mohammed (SAN) in case number NSHC/ KUT/6/2023 demanding compensation.
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In a judgment delivered on Thursday, March 14 Mohammed .A. Mohammed, the presiding judge, held that the construction of the Zungeru dam in Samboro has caused damages to the farmland and other economic trees in the community.
The judge agreed that it was the act of the defendants in the construction of the dam project that led to the continuous flooding and erosion in the community.
He affirmed that the flooding and erosion have led to the destruction of the plaintiffs’ sources of livelihood and ejected them from their ancestral homes.
He noted that the plaintiffs, having suffered from the actions of the defendants, were entitled to monetary compensation.
Consequently, Mohammed issued a perpetual injunction “restraining the defendants, their servants, agents, privies and or assigns whosever and howsoever from trespassing or further acts of trespass or doing any act or actions, conduct of breach prejudicial and or reprehensive to the plaintiffs’ right, interest ownership, possession and occupation on the land situate, being and lying at Samboro community, constituting about 7,868 hectares of land in Rafi local government area of Niger state”.
“An order is hereby given directing the 1st defendant to pay to the plaintiffs, forthwith, the sum of one trillion, one hundred and fifty billion, five hundred and ninety-five million, forty-seven thousand and two hundred and eighty-eight naira (N1,150,595,047,288) as monetary compensation for the destruction of their farmlands, houses, ponds, sabotage to their economic welfare and survival, untold hardship and total annihilation of all their resources of livelihood in Samboro Community in Rafi local government area of Niger state,” he added.
This development is coming weeks after the Federal Government officially transferred operations of the Hydroelectric Power Plant to Penstock Limited, a subsidiary of Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited, which it selected in February 2023.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.