Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers State governments are considering incorporating a joint venture company that would undertake the business of electricity distribution as a way of guaranteeing adequate power supply to their residents.
Electricity supply in these states has remained poor, despite investing huge resources in Independent Power Projects (IPP) in their domains.
The Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, who spoke with NEXT in Abuja on Friday, urged the Federal Government to loosen its grip on the power sector by deregulating generation, transmission and distribution, to allow for more investments.
License to transmit and distribute power
“The state governments, like other investors, are given license to generate electricity, while the power to transmit and distribute to the consumers still resides with the Federal Government. Unless transmission and distribution responsibilities are deregulated for other investors to come in, the poor electricity supply situation in the country would persist.
“It is a very sad that the Akwa Ibom State Government has constructed and commissioned a 191-mega watt (MW) Independent Power Plant (IPP), yet the people cannot enjoy the full benefits of the investment, because distribution is not in the hands of the state government. The Federal Government should issue electricity distribution licenses to states that are capable of doing so,” the governor said.
In this regard, Mr. Akpabio said the four states approached the Federal Government for an approval to incorporate a joint venture company for electricity distribution in the region, adding that the Minister of Power, Lanre Babalola, has already assured them of support for the project by presenting a memorandum to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval for an operating license.
Cluster of states
Mr. Akpabio said when established, the company will generate and distribute electricity to a cluster of states in the Niger Delta region to bring the dividend of democracy to the people at the grassroots.
“Even if the transmission of electricity is still left with the Federal Government, let the distribution that goes to the consumers be given to the states, who would generate the electricity for the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to transmit to the next sub-station for the state governments and take it to the homes. That is the only time the impact of electricity projects initiated by the state governments would be felt by the people at the grassroots,” he said.
Mr. Akpabio, who said Akwa Ibom has been transformed from a “pedestrian state” into “a tourism destination” within two years of his administration, said he is working to reposition the area from a civil service state to one of industrialisation and commerce.
He identified insecurity, particularly kidnapping, as the greatest challenge his administration is facing, urging support from stakeholders to eliminate the crime.
He said a projects monitoring group, consisting members of various professional groups, including engineers, architects, and quantity surveyors, are currently working in the state as a strategy to engage the youths and redirect their energies to productive enterprise.
About 650 beneficiaries enlisted in the scheme last year, while 930 others have been shortlisted for the next batch, including about 200 of those who recently surrendered arms under the Federal Government’s Amnesty programme for Niger Delta militant leaders.
“The youth training exercise will begin on March 1. At the end of the training they would be camped and paid allowances for two to three months, and on graduation, be given loans of about N500,000 to start some small and medium scale businesses. A team would monitor their progress and report success stories for increased support,” he said.
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