Yemisi Izuora
The Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, has warned vandals to desist from tampering with power facilities.
Obiano said his administration will not tolerate vandalism of power lines in the state by hoodlums.
The Governor gave the warning while on inspection of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)/National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs) in the State, which include Agu-Awka, Enugwu-Ukwu, Awkuzu, and Fegge -Onitsha.
Reacting to the complaint by Dr. Chris Imoka, President of Chris Ejik Engineering, the contractor handling the 132/33KVA Power Station at Agu-Awka who claimed that the cable lines from Awka to Awkuzu sub-station is completely vandalized, the governor said that there is no reason ”Ndi Anambra” should lack power because of vandals.
He therefore charged the Traditional rulers, President Generals of towns along the route of the power line to take ownership and also for the Vigilante Services to step-up security along the route to check re-occurrence.
According to Governor Obiano, It is in furtherance of our desire to ensure that Ndi Anambra have regular power supply that we started reviewing the power projects where our state have equity contribution with Federal Government of Nigeria to know their status.
He noted that the Agu-Awka project was awarded seven years ago and should have been completed and delivered within one year.”
Apparently worried by the long delay in completing the power projects and plethora of complaints and excuses given by the contractor, the governor threw several questions at him:
“How long have you been on this project? Do you have the capacity? Do they owe you? Can it be done in phases? I am not happy with the state of things here. The state has over 20% contribution in these projects and we need light”.
The contractor could not answer the questions adequately and the governor told him that the state will come to “monitor the project every month until you get it done.”
Earlier, Executive Director (Networks) Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited, Dr. Albert Okorogu confirmed that of the 32 Megawatts of electricity generated from the Power Station, only 8 megawatts is utilized while the rest is lying dormant due to no capacity for distribution.
The Governor and his entourage also inspected the 1×7.5MVA Injection Sub-Station, Awkuzu; 15 MVA 2.7.5 Megawatts Enugwu-Ukwu Sub-Station, and 2×7.5MVA Fegge, Onitsha.