A Minna High Court IV has ordered the Federal Ministries of Mines and Power to pay N1.5 trillion in compensation to the Samboro village in Madaka district in Rafi local government area of Niger State for their displacement due to the Zungeru Dam project.
Justice Muhammad Adishetu Mohammed stated in his over-one-hour judgement that the construction of the Zungeru Hydro Power Dam in the Samboro Community has caused tremendous misery for the inhabitants and has deprived them farmland and other avenues of economic livelihood.
On April 27, 2023, Alhaji Abubakar Usman, the village head of Samboro community, and 2,844 other residents of the community addressed the court through attorney Muhammed Ndarani Mohammed (SAN) in case number NSHC/KUT/6/2023, claiming compensation.
In his decision, Justice Mohammed stated that the plaintiffs are the original residents of the huge stretch of land in Samboro community, which covers around 7,868 hectares in the Rafi local government area of Niger State.
He stated, “The subject matter of this case as provided under section 41(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and section 8(c) and (h) of the Hydro Electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission Act, 2010, the court reaffirmed that it is the joint and several acts of the defendants in the construction of the Zungeru Dam Project that lead to the continuous flooding and other environmental degradation in Samboro community.”
He stated that the situation has resulted in immeasurable hardships and the constant loss of the plaintiffs’ sources of livelihood, ejecting them from their ancestral homes.
He stated that the hardship was caused by irreparable damages to the plaintiffs’ means of livelihood and that, in light of the existing provisions of Section 39 of the Land Use Act and Section 44(1a & 1b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, “this court is clothed with the Jurisdictional competence to entertain, hear, and determine the reliefs of the plaintiffs for the award of monetary compensation.”
He insisted that the plaintiffs, as the original inhabitants of Samboro Community in Niger State’s Rafi local government area, are entitled to monetary compensation for the destruction of their environmental and economic livelihoods and survival as a result of the defendants’ actions.
As a result, “an order is hereby given directing the first defendant to pay to the plaintiffs, forthwith, the sum of N1,150,595,047,288 as monetary compensation for the destruction of their farmlands, houses, and 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.”
“That an order is hereby given directing the 1st defendant to pay the sum of N100,000,000 as general damages, costs of prosecuting this suit and legal representation, and 10% post-judgment interest per annum,” he passed his judgment.