George Kajo Makurdi
About forty percent of Benue population is without electricity supply, while 260,000 children are said to out of schools in the state.
These were some of the fallout from the just concluded stakeholder’s forum on the proposed Hydro Electric Power Producing Area Development Commission (HPPADEC), five-year medium term plan meeting held in Makurdi, the Benue state capital.
The forum also identified inadequate health facilities and still exist workers, lack of food processing and school facilities, security and environmental degradation as some of the developmental challenges been faced by rural and urban communities in the state.
In an overview, chairman of council policy committee of HPADEC, Saleh Mohammed Kanam said the challenges were contained in the proposed strategic plan which requires inputs from stakeholders towards implementation.
In his remarks, the chairman of HPADEC governing council, Terfa Ityav, explained that the plan provided indicators and target for the commission to get contributions from stakeholders for synergy to achieve the goals.
He noted thy the commission has received support from Benue state government and pledge to sustain the partnership for the benefit of the people of the state and beyond.
Earlier, the state coordinator of the commission, Magdalene Jam challenged the stakeholders on valuable contributions all the times so as to move forward.