By Oluwayemi Davidson, Warri
The National Assembly is committed to facilitating 24-hours power supply across Nigeria, in no distant future, the Senate Deputy President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege said on Saturday.
He gave the assertion while performing the groundbreaking for the construction of a power substation at his ancestral Orogun community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.
According to him, “the establishment of the Orogun Power Substation “is one of the several initiatives of the present administration aimed at addressing the energy poverty in our nation”.
Senator Omo-Agege, representing Delta Central Federal Constituency at the National Assembly declared saying “the groundbreaking ceremony sign posts the near end of the energy crisis and energy poverty that we have witnessed in this clime with its negative impact on the livelihood of the people and the economy of the area”.
He explained that the National Assembly had leveraged on the vision of the administration as regards the power sector to provide transformers for several communities in the Senatorial District to improve the energy availability and supply in their areas.
“We have already provided solar powered streetlights across most communities in Delta Central. We are looking forward to do more once the implementation of the 2021 budget begins”, he stated.
The Deputy Senate President noted that the establishment of the new Power Substation “will promote research and development in the Federal Polytechnic, Orogun” which was recently approved by the Federal Government.
He also assured that the project which is scheduled for completion within three to four months would be replicated across the Federation in due course.
He used the forum to remind the Benin Electricity Distribution Company ((BEDC) of their obligation to their customers and the Government regarding the mass metering initiative of the Federal Government aimed at ending the ERS of estimated bills syndrome.
The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Power Holding Limited, Mr. Chiedu Ugbo had earlier commended the “passionate intervention” of Senator Omo-Agege for the actualization of the project.
He affirmed that the establishment of power substation would improve electricity supply in the Delta community.
Also speaking, the President-General of Orogun Kingdom, Chief Benson Ndakara conveyed the appreciation of the benefitting communities to the authorities promising that everything possible would be done to protect the power substation from vandalization.