Abia embarks on restoring electricity to public buildings
…To improve power supply to industries
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Abia State government has embarked on a multi-million naira exercise of reconnecting its offices and buildings to the power grid, amid plans to partner energy firms to boost power supply to all parts of the state.
Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, and his Power and Public Utilities counterpart, Engr. Ikehukwu Monday, who made this known at a joint Press Briefing at Government House, Umuahia, on Wednesday, also said the state would present an eletricity bill to the state legislature for the purposes of improving power supply in Abia.
The power restoration move which would guzzle hundreds of millions of naira is aimed at creating a conductive environment for civil servants to enhance their productivity and to facilitate the state’s economic growth.
“The Ministry of Power and Public Utilities is working together with Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) to reconnect all government facilities that have been cut off the grid due to non-payment of electricity bills accumulated by previous governments and vandalism. This government has decided to pay off the bills and reconnect Umuahia and Aba back to the national grid to help our businesses. You know the cost of power in terms of doing business, people running businesses with their generating sets.
“Government wants to make sure that that will belong to the past,” the Commissioner for Information said.
Explaining further on the government policy which already has received the nod of the state Executive Council which met on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, Commissioner for Power and Public Utilities, Engr. Ikechukwu Monday, said the goal of the project was to touch the lives of Abians.
“This government that is being headed by Dr. Alex Otti, is a government of the people and for the people.You can see that already in the way of the organic reactions from the people. We want to touch the lives of the people.
“My Ministry is very critical to drive this infrastructure that will improve the lives of the people. When you talk about industrialisation, development, you cannot achieve that without power. And if you talk about services to the people, companies and businesses, you need the public utilities. That is why we are making sure that we walk with more stakeholders to see that we drive the dividends to our people,” Monday said.
However, he said that government needed to partner Aba Power to be able to realise its objective of restoring power to government facilities and improving electricity supply across the state.
“Talking about most government facilities, when we came on board, they were off the grid and there is no way we can drive the growth without the help of the public service.They are the ones that will do most of the job and if there is no power, they will find it difficult, it makes their working environment not conducive and not also productive.
“So that is why we engaged EEDC to find a solution and we discovered during this engagement that major issues were bordering on non-payment of outstanding bills for years by the previous governments and also acts of vandalism in most of the infrastructure. “So, with the kind assistance and support of His Excellency, he has approved that we restore all government facilities back to the grid. We have started that process with the EEDC. We started with the health facilities which is very critical. The facilities in Amachara General Hospital are back to the grid; the Diagnostic Centre will soon be restored too.
“We also have to touch the lives of the people through power supply. You know that electricity is a general problem, not just in Abia State but Nigeria. So, we are also working with Aba Power, including the EEDC, to see how we can contribute as a government, to enhance their performance,” the Commissioner said.
