The Managing Director of Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC), Alhaji Abubakar Yelwa, says the dredging of Rivers Benue, Niger and Kaduna will cost more than $20 billion.

According to him, this has made the clamour for the dredging of the three rivers to check perennial flooding in affected areas difficult.

Yelwa disclosed this at the 2023 stakeholders meeting on flood mitigation and other related issues in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Thursday, May 18, 2023.

He said it would be difficult for the Federal Government to handle without intervention from international donor agencies.

He said this is because the estimated cost for dredging of the rivers as at 1983 when the Federal Government asked for the cost was $2 billion, adding that the cost had astronomically gone up over 10 times.

He said that the funding of the project was beyond the commission and the Federal Government.

To mitigate 2023 flood prediction by the Nigerian Metereological Agency (NiMet), Yelwa said the commission would embark on afforestration programme, where trees would be planted in five hectares of land in each of the five local government areas in Kwara North senatorial district, being flood-proned area of the state.