President Bola Ahmed Tinubu rescinded the appointment of Mrs. Oluwa Tomi Somefun as Managing Director of the National Hydro-Electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC) and reinstated Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa FNCA (Katukan Yawuri) as the Managing Director/CEO.
This decision follows significant criticism from stakeholders in HYPPADEC member states—Niger, Kogi, Kwara, Kebbi, Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Taraba, and Gombe—who argued that Somefun’s appointment on July 18, 2025, violated the N-HYPPADEC Establishment Act.
The Act mandates that the Managing Director must be an indigene of a member state and that the position should rotate among these states, with the Chairman and Managing Director not from the same state.
Somefun, from Oyo State, a non-member state, was deemed ineligible. Yelwa’s reinstatement aligns with the legal requirements and the commission’s mission to address ecological and socio-economic challenges in hydroelectric power-producing areas.