Ezechi tasks TCN on abandoned Okpai electrification project ~ Truth Reporters

The member representing the Ndokwa Ukwuani Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Rt. Hon Nnamdi Ezechi, has again expressed concern over the prolonged lack of electricity in Ndokwa land despite the area's significant contribution to the nation's economy.

Hon Ezechi, who was speaking on Monday at the sitting of the House of Representatives Committee on Power with the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, top officials of his Ministry and the Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, (TCN), Engr Sule Abdulaziz, said the hopelessness of Ndokwa people for electricity needed to be addressed.

This, he noted, could only be achieved with the competition of the Okpai-Kwale 132KV double circuit transmission line, the construction of a 1 x 60MVA, 132/33KV substation at Kwale, and the 1 x 150MVA, 330/132/33KV substation at Okpai.

The Lawmaker said he would not sit in the National Assembly and watch his constituents remain in perpetual darkness for no fault of theirs, stressing that electricity was key to socioeconomic development and must not be denied the people of Ndokwa/Ukwuani Federal Constituency.

Hon Ezechi, while acknowledging the complex challenges militating against the completion of the strategic electrification project, expressed the hope that the Transmission Company of Nigeria would make progress once the legal hurdles standing against the project were cleared 

Responding, the Managing Director of TCN, Engr. Sule Abdulaziz provided further insights into the challenges delaying the completion of the project, which included price variations and community-related issues.

Engr. Abdulaziz explained that the emergency procurement of equipment, spurred by  exigency demands of the Constituency, led to petitions against TCN to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which had further complicated the execution of the  project.

The TCN boss, however, assured that once the EFCC investigations were over and other related issues resolved, the contractors would be fully mobilized to resume work on the electrification project, with a view to meeting the longstanding power needs of Ndokwa/Ukwuani communities.