It was a moment of applause for Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State on Monday as the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC, inaugurated a 7.5MVA injection substation in Enugu.
The project, which is said to be a brainchild of Senator Gilbert Nnaji representing Enugu East Senatorial District, was fully funded by the EEDC.
Speaking while commissioning the project, the Senator representing Anambra Central, Senator Victor Umeh disclosed that Nigeria needed power supply to enhance economic development and improve lives.
Umeh, who lamented the poor level of power generation, said corruption was killing the energy sector.
He said despite the huge investments in the sector over the years, there was nothing to show for it.
“It is not about money; it is about insincerity; corruption is the bane of the energy sector in Nigeria and as soon as it is addressed, Nigeria will have sufficient power. We need about 40,000 Megawatts but currently we have less than 10,000,” he lamented.
Umeh, who represented the Chairman of the EEDC, Chief Sir Emeka Offor promised that the company would do everything to maximise the supply of power to its customers.
In a remark, Senator Nnaji commended the EEDC for its intervention to ensure steady power supply in the community.
Earlier in a welcome address, the managing director of EEDC, Okechukwu Nwosu disclosed that the company was committed to deliverance quality power supply to its customers.
He said “the substation that is being commissioned today is housing 3 units of 11KV Feeders, and designed to enhance quality of electricity supply to our customers within Nike Lake Resort and environs, Amorji, Ibagwa, Harmony, Edem, Alulu, Umuchigbo down to Last Bus-Stop.
“This initiative has de-loaded the Abakpa 1 – 11KV feeder, which prior to now, was serving these areas and other parts of Abakpa and Thinkers Corner, Emene. We are therefore happy to say that approximately 13,000 EEDC customers are already benefiting from this project.
“We all would agree that electricity is central to the socio economic development of our nation and we are playing our part, as a responsible corporate organization, to ensure that the South East, which is our franchise area is not left out in this conscious effort aimed at transforming the socio economic landscape of the South East zone.”
He added that “the enormous challenges in the power sector is of great concern to every industry player, but this has not deterred us in our quest to delivering exceptional services to our customers. So far, we have committed both human and financial resources to ensure that this goal is achieved.
“The Nike Lake Injection Substation is actually one of the numerous projects that we embarked on to provide quality and reliable electricity supply to our esteemed customers.
“Recently, at Nsukka, Enugu State, we built and commissioned the UNN 33KV and Orba 33KV Feeders to evacuate energy from the Nru TCN Substation to our customers. We wish to acknowledge that the Orba 33KV feeder was financed by the Enugu State government, and we want to appreciate His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the Executive Governor of Enugu State for this support.
“With this development, the UNN 33KV Feeder now cater for the University of Nigeria, Nsukka without interruptions, as well as Onuiyi Haven and environs; while the Orba 33KV Feeder serves Obollo Afor, Orba, Ehalumona, Orhodo, Opi and Enugu Ezike communities.”
The MD further stated that the company had deployed over 70 units of 500KV transformers to replace some failed ones and also to serve as relief to some areas identified to be expanding within our network.
“Equally, as part of our effort to ensure that our customers are metered, we have embarked on massive installation of smart prepaid meters to our customers across our franchise area at no cost to them. As a matter of fact, between January 2018 to August, over 50,000 customers were metered, bringing the total number of our prepaid customers to about 190,000,” he said.
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