Isoko Reps Candidate, Others Drag FG To Court, Demand N100bn Compensation Over Flooding

The major bone of contention in the suit is to determine: ”Whether the discontinuity of the process of construction of the Datsin Hausa Dam in Adamawa State by the Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu due to poor Feasibility study and Engineering Design as he claimed during the Minister’s interaction with a Committee in the National Assembly recently, without immediately making arrangements since 2016,six years ago for a better Feasibility study and Engineering Design, having in mind the urgency of building the Dam to avert future occurrence of the destruction of this annual flooding in Nigeria was right and not equal to negligence.”

The defendants in the suit are the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and the Minister of Water Resources.

In the Originating Summons suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/202S/2022 titled “In the matter of the Construction of Datsin Hausa Dam and avoidance of perennial flooding in Isoko North and Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State” filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the following reliefs were sought:

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Firstly, a declaration that the Federal Government of Nigeria should identify and compensate these victims of the 2022 flooding in Isoko North and Isoko South Local Government Areas with the sum of One hundred Billion Naira( 100b) for loss of sources of livelihood and separation from families and living environment ” and secondly an Order to “compel the Federal government to consider this annual flooding as a ” matter of urgent national importance” in order to put it in its priority list in the 2023 budget among others.
And THE PLAINTIFFS hereby seek the following reliefs:

1.A Declaration that the Federal government should identify and
compensate these victims of the 2022 flooding in Isoko North and Isoko South.

2.A Declaration that the Federal government should consider this annual
flooding as a matter of urgent national importance in order to put it in its priority list in the 2023 budget.

3. An Order for the Federal government to complete the dredging of major rivers in Nigeria and the building of the necessary Dam to avert future occurrences of flooding within one year,

4. A Declaration for the National Assembly to probe the poor Engineering
concerned and Feasibility study of the DAM mentioned by the Minister of Water
Resources – Engr. Suleiman Adamu in the Nation Newspaper publication of
October 19th, 2022 and establish the reasons for not building and the completion of the Dam since 2016 when the perennial flooding problem was identified by him.

5. An Order that the spending of Ecological fund by the Federal government from 2001 till date be investigated, as also mentioned by Socio- Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

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Citing the audit of the Ecological Fund Office carried out by the. Nigeria
Extractive industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). SERAP said 277 billion was disbursed from December 2011 to November 2016 and some of disbursements were not utilised for the purpose for which it was established according to the audit
report.