Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji has lamented that despite the huge investment made by his government at boosting electricity supply, power generation to the state has remained a challenge.
Governor Oyebanji disclosed that his administration had invested billions of naira in the sector and made remarkable impact in effective reconnection of urban and rural communities that were hitherto disconnected from the national grid.
He said the distribution in such communities is being affected seriously due to ineffective and poor coordination of the entire system.
The Governor disclosed this when a team from the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI), Abuja led by its Technical Director, Engr. Lawal Lawal paid him a courtesy visit.
Oyebanji stated that his administration has been able to demonstrate capacity and commitment to the effective growth and development of the state by reconnecting communities which for many years had no electricity to the national grid as well as providing highly subsidized smart data meters for them.
While commending President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for ensuring adequate power generation and distribution to all parts of the country through the laudable initiatives, Governor Oyebanji stressed that he was not encouraged with the poor handling of electricity generation and distribution system due to poor or no metering stance of the relevant bodies saddled with the responsibility.
“Since we did not get help from anybody, we decided to help ourselves and we are making an impact. The only way we are having recourse to you is because we cannot produce meters. I don’t know if the commissioner had told you how much we have invested in rural and urban electricity. We have been able to connect them, buy transformers and do wiring, we have spent billions of Naira.
Earlier, the Technical Director of PMI, Engr. Lawal Lawal, noted that the initiative was a personal ambition of the President to close the Nigerian electricity metering gap by quickly assenting to a bill called Nigerian Electricity Act of 2023 which liberalized to give way to new electricity infrastructure nationally.
He noted that the matching order the President gave to the team to create a framework in which the seven million meter gap that currently exists is closed as soon as possible has paid off, adding that he was glad that all the states have supported the initiative with funding and other necessary support.
