. . . Assures Imo residents of uninterrupted power supply

By PETER OKOLIE

Gov. Hope Uzodimma has assured residents of the 27 Local Government Areas of Imo will soon enjoy uninterrupted power supply.

Uzodimma, gave the assurance while signing two executive bills into law, a bill on electricity and another to amend Imo State Polytechnic Law No. 15 of 2012 to pave the way for the merger of campuses of the polytechnic.

The governor said that the Imo state Electricity law, would bring rapid development not only to rural communities but also to the urban centers.

“We are all living witnesses to the ordeal our people are going through in the power sector.

“There is absolutely limited or even no supply, businesses are dying everyday and people are losing everyday with unemployment market swelling everyday.

“I think it has come to a time that every sub-national government must rise and provide what will make life meaningful to her people.

“Electricity is as important as the food we eat everyday. It is the beginning of every development,” he stressed.

The governor, who noted that he took a comprehensive audit of the federal facilities in Imo and infrastructure meant to provide power, expressed concern over the abandoned Amaraku electricity project.

“The transmission and distribution infrastructure at the federal project at Egbema Power Plant initiated in 2006, has not been completed 18 years after.

“I have approached the Federal Government and requested that the project be transferred to Imo state and her development partners.

“I am happy to announce to you that President Bola Tinubu has approved the transfer of the project to Imo Government.

“I am also happy to announce that an agreement has been signed by Imo Government with a world class power company from Egypt with credibility to generate, transmit and distribute electricity in the state,” he stated.

He expressed confidence that power supply will improve in the state in the next 12 months.

Uzodimma further noted that an agreement had been signed with an Egyptian company, Afreximbank, Fidelity bank and Marriott Group to provide 200-room Imo Marriott Hotel in Owerri.

He said the state government only provided land in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) project which would be completed within 24 months.

The governor said the three projects would provide over 5,000 direct jobs for the people of the state.

He said the government has already entered into an agreement with an Egyptian firm, Elsewedy power generation, for the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity to all parts of the state within the next eight months.

The governor also announced that apart from the fact that electricity is now on the concurrent list, the federal government has given approval and support for the ambitious project.

Speaking to an excited audience after signing the bill into law, Uzodimma said the ultimate goal of the project is to boost the economy of Imo state through industrialization.

According to him, with natural and human resources in the state, an uninterrupted power supply would be a filip to the industrialization policy of the administration.

On the bill for the amendment of the Imo Polytechnic law, the governor said, it was aimed at centralizing its operations as against the multi-campus arrangement.

He said: “It became necessary, given that of late, Imo now operates three state universities and there is no state in Nigeria with up to three universities.

“It has continued to over stretch our resources with the agony and risks of students going from one location to another at a time of insecurity.

“The need for a unified system became necessary to save government the resources, demands and inconveniences occasioned by the robust demands of supervision and monitoring.

“It will also allow for even and proper development of the campus so that students will graduate from an environment that really enable acquisition of knowledge and instill sense of pride in the graduating students,” Uzodimma said.

Earlier, the Speaker of the Imo House of Assembly, Mr Chike Olemgbe, while presenting the bills to the governor, said the executive bills passed legislative scrutiny and process.

Olemgbe said the timely presentation of the bill by the executive arm of the government to the State Assembly clearly shows Imo as a proactive government that yields to the yearnings of the people.

He assured the governor of the assembly’s collaboration to work with the executive arm as partners in progress to provide dividends of democracy and good governance to the people. (NAN)

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