Walalambe, a Kano community living in danger of power project

Residents of Walalambe in Hotoro, Nasarawa local government area of Kano state neighbouring a Power Transmission substation are living under threat to their lives and properties. Kano Chronicle gathered that the site, said to have been under construction for almost two decades by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has already attracted people around it. […]

Residents of Walalambe in Hotoro, Nasarawa local government area of Kano state neighbouring a Power Transmission substation are living under threat to their lives and properties.

Kano Chronicle gathered that the site, said to have been under construction for almost two decades by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has already attracted people around it.

Upon completion, the 330KVA transmission substation is expected to boost electricity supply and distribution in Kano and even the neighbouring Katsina and Jigawa states.

Some residents spoken to share their mixed feelings over the situation.

Muhammad Suyudi, a resident of the area, who has been living there for over 10 years, said the construction work has been on for close to 20 years without any hope for completion.

He said the land initially earmarked by government has already been fenced, while the rest have been built by their owners not minding the dangers  of being neighbours to a transmission substation.

“Government has already fenced the site it wanted to use and people then just decided to build theirs as well.

“It is government’s slow pace to the work that made us to conclude that they may not even continue,” he added.

He said there was nothing they could do even though they realized the danger  of being close to a  high tension cable when the project is completed.

“There is nothing we can do, we have no option. Looking at the looming danger ahead, whenever this project is completed, it is only government that will come to our aid. All of us living around here are poor.

“We will be glad if government assists us by either compensating or relocating us to another place, just the way it did at Sauna transmission substation,” he added.

Malam Suyudi added that they have all acquired their land legally and there was no any order stopping them from building it all that while.

Similarly, another resident, Malam Iliyasu Abdullahi, said the project has been on since the first tenure of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

He said the land, which was initially being used  for farming,  was later sold out as plots of lands before government later acquired part of it and compensated the affected persons.

“After government demarcated where they wanted to use for the project, they fenced it even though the work never seemed to be serious.

“So, people close to the place, whose farmlands were not affected decided to build them. In fact, some of them have relocated here more than 10 years back. But nobody told us to stop building here,” Abdullahi said.

He, however, agreed that they are aware of the looming danger attached to them when the project is completed but urged government to come to our aid.

Alaramma Hashimu Mai-Hotoro, who has also been in the area for almost 15 years, said there were over 30 houses surrounding the area and attributed the situation to government’s inability to complete the project on time.

“Government should know the danger attached to people residing close to electricity transmission station. It should have acquired even the land neighbouring the place even before they were built. That way I think no one would have even built it, talk less of even relocating,” Mai-Hotoro said.

“TCN has often collaborated with state governments including Kano state, to ensure people do not encroach on the right of way of power lines and substations,” she said.