At least seven persons have died in a boat mishap at Zhigiri village in Shiroro Local Government of Niger State.
It was also revealed that a man Muazu Babangida lost his two wives and a son in the incident.
The incident was said to have occurred when the villagers were heading to Dnaweto; a neighboring village in the hinterland for a naming ceremony at about 4:00 pm on Sunday evening.
The spokesperson of the Coalition of Shiroro Associations (COSA), Salis Saba Esq, in a statement made available to journalists in Minna, lamented that the incident was a result of the creation of a dam in the community.
“Prior to the construction of Zungeru Dam, traveling between these two villages was by land and need not water transportation, as the terrain was majorly dry and motorable.
“This is one of the social upheaval occasioned by the construction of the dam.
” At the time of this report, one corpse is yet to be recovered from the water,” Salis Saba said.
He, however, called on the Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC) to as matter of urgency, respond to the devastating incident and provide safety measures to include life jackets among others to help residents adapt to their new way of life and to also prevent a future occurrence of such.
