The Ondo state government on Saturday revealed that plans have been concluded to restore electricity back to the Southern senatorial district of the state before Easter festival, after over 14 years of total blackout.
In an Exclusive interview with Roving Reporters on Saturday, the Special Adviser to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa on Energy, Engineer Johnson Alabi, said the people of Ondo South Senatorial district would celebrate Easter festival with electricity.
He explained that, “I have stepped into the effort that has been on before my arrival to office towards restoring power to the Southern senatorial district which has been out of power for over 14 years.
“As a matter of fact, my target in that office is to restore power within the space of 2 months of my being the head of the ministry of energy.
“To that effect, i have held a meeting with the managing director of BEDC, Deolu Ijoshe, and his technical adviser and we had a robust discussion on how fast we can restore electricity back to the Southern senatorial district vis-a-vis the 132kva sub-station that had been built and completed at Erinje, Ode Erinje. We had a robust discussion and by that extension, we have fixed a date for March 6, 2024 to go on physical inspection of the facilities already on ground.
“We are confident that we would restore power to Okitipupa, Igbokoda on or before Easter, God willing, and with the support of the government at the top because we are processing a letter to the president to give us a date for commissioning of Erinje 132kva sub-station.
“Very soon, the people of the southern senatorial district should be hopeful that power will be restored to them.
“This is not a political promise. I have been in that sector and i understand the game. I also understand the power play in that sector and confidently i can say by beating my chest that we would restore power and this is a matter of reality.
“It is doable. We discussed it today (Saturday) and we are just prepared to ensure everything works out well and we restore within some limited time.
“The areas we have discussed with the BEDC is the rehabilitation of vandalised line that is within Okitipupa area to Igbokoda.
“Part of it has been fixed and as i speak to you, between Ode-Aye and Okitipupa that has been vandalized has been fixed. A lot of transformers have been replaced and we have a number of activities going on as NDDC is also working in Igbokoda trying to restore some transformers and at the end of the day, when all those things are fixed, all we need is the commissioning of that sub-station because as i speak to you, the sub-station is complete by 90percent and meters have been installed with it.
“Having installed the bulk meters, that is about the end of the exercise there. It is just to tune it on and people can have access to light.
“We are going to have the phase 2 and that will be reaching out to the interior parts and villages of the district.
“Once we have light in Okitipupa, and Igbokoda, we will be stretching our arms.”
3 comments
What I consider funny is that the so called managing director, a person of Adeolu Ijose is also a son of the soil whose entire existence and generation has been deep rooted in this blackout. Man can’t even profer a solution to the concerned bodies nor use his office to make an impact. What a shame.
What about ode irele local government
Sir help us too ode irele we don’t have light over mean years ago