Govt promises to restore electricity in Ebonyi community after 13 years

The Ebonyi State Government has reiterated its commitment to the restoration of power supply in Afikpo communities after a 13-year outage in the area.

The State Commissioner for Power and Energy, Mr Peter Oga-Ali, gave the assurance on Monday, after an inspection of the power project in Afikpo, Afikpo Local Government Area of the state.

Oga-Ali, who also gave an account of the N208 million released for the project by the state governor, Francis Nwifuru, said the installation of eight new transformers had been achieved.

This is coming after he denied claims on social media that he had misappropriated the money meant for the power restoration, saying, “Some of the indigenes have consequently buzzed my phone with calls, directly accusing me and the ministry of diverting the money.”

Oga-Al said, “The construction of the Amasiri sub-station in the local government area is also completed for steady power supply. There were additional five old transformers and all of them had been refurbished and installed.

“The challenge we are having is the ongoing construction of the Enugu-Abakaliki Expressway causing relocation of high voltage lines between Nkalagu and Ntezi.

“Once the poles are fixed, the power will be restored in the area. Also, all the works in restoring the power have been completed and I commend the engineers, who were on the field for the quality work,” saying that the “total money was N208 million, but after tax deductions, we now have N194m.”

The commissioner added, “I want to state clearly that on February 28, 2024, N194m was released to the ministry for procurement and installation of eight new transformers and rehabilitation of collapsed electrical lines in Afikpo.

“In addition to the eight transformers, five were also refurbished and installed in the following locations: Enohia Nkalu, Amaozara and Ozizza communities.

“A letter for the completion of works had been sent to the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) on May 23 by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, followed with a joint inspection team.”

He clarified that it’s the responsibility of the Transmission Company of Nigeria “to ensure that energy is transmitted from one station to the other,” as he said the ministry was responsible for the delayed supply of energy to Afikpo.

The commissioner, therefore, urged the people to remain calm and law-abiding as he pledged more commitment to rectifying technical issues to restore power supply to the area.

NAN