The management of North South Power Company Limited (NSP) warned on Wednesday of impending flood risk in communities around the Shiroro Hydro-Electric Power Plant in Niger.

The vice-chairman of NSP, Olubumi Peters, issued the alert during the annual stakeholder’s flood sensitisation forum.

Mr Peters, represented by Abdullahi Hassan, a consultant on Corporate Social Responsibility to NSP, added that the communities at risk were those living upstream and downstream of NSP.

“The forum will try and come up with possible ways to reduce the devastating damages to lives and property; stakeholders are to identify the most effective remedies to flooding,” he said.

He appealed to the federal government to hasten the implementation of the National Flood Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan to provide more resilience and effective response measures to mitigate the impact of flooding.

While answering questions from host communities, the chief operating officer of NSP, Ugochukwu Chioke, said the company alerts communities through letters, meetings and announcements before spilling water from its reservoir.

Mr Chioke, however, said that 52 per cent of the workforce in NSP was from Niger State, adding that the company would continue to execute meaningful projects in host communities as part of its corporate social responsibility.

Also speaking, Mansur Matazu, director-general of the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NiMET), said that more violent convective activities would occur due to high temperatures resulting in occasional downpours.

Mr Matazu, represented by Pwajok Gyang, the state NiMET inspector, said settlements downstream and upstream of the Kaduna River basin would likely be affected.

He called on relevant disaster management agencies to take the necessary steps to reduce the negative effects of floods to the barest minimum.

Stakeholders from NEMA, NESREA, and state and local government officials were in attendance. 

(NAN)