Uzodimma signs electricity law, assures Imo residents of improved power supply

Hope Uzodimma, governor of Imo, has assured the 27 LGAs of the state that they will soon enjoy uninterrupted power supply.

The governor gave the assurance while signing two executive bills into law.

The pieces of legislation signed were on electricity, and a bill to amend the Imo State Polytechnic Law No. 15 of 2012 — for the merger of campuses of the polytechnic.

The governor said the Imo State Electricity Law will bring rapid development, not just to rural communities, but to urban centres.

“We are all living witnesses to the ordeal our people are going through in the power sector,” he said.

“There is absolutely limited or even no supply, businesses are dying everyday and people are losing everyday with unemployment market swelling everyday.

“I think it has come to a time that every subnational government must rise and provide what will make life meaningful to her people.

“Electricity is as important as the food we eat everyday. It is the beginning of every development.”

The governor added that he took a comprehensive audit of the federal facilities in Imo, and infrastructure meant to provide power, and expressed concerns over the abandoned Amaraku electricity project.

“The transmission and distribution infrastructure at the federal project at Egbema Power Plant initiated in 2006, has not been completed 18 years after,” he said.

“I have approached the federal government and requested that the project be transferred to Imo state and her development partners.

“I am happy to announce to you that President Bola Tinubu has approved the transfer of the project to Imo government.

“I am also happy to announce that an agreement has been signed by Imo government with a world class power company from Egypt with credibility to generate, transmit and distribute electricity in the state.”

He expressed confidence that power supply will improve in the state in the next 12 months.

The governor also stated that an agreement had been signed with an Egyptian company, Afreximbank, Fidelity bank and Marriott Group to provide 200-room Imo Marriott Hotel in Owerri.

He said the state government only provided land for the Public Private Partnership (PPP) project which will be completed within 24 months.

The governor said the three projects will provide over 5,000 direct jobs for the people of the state.

He said the government has already entered into an agreement with an Egyptian firm, Elsewedy, for the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity to all parts of the state within the next eight months.

The governor also announced that apart from the fact that electricity is now on the concurrent list, the federal government has given approval and support for the ambitious project.

Uzodimma said the ultimate goal of the project is to boost the economy of Imo state through industrialisation.

On the bill for the amendment of the Imo Polytechnic Law, the governor said it was aimed at centralising its operations as against the multi-campus arrangement.

“It became necessary, given that of late, Imo now operates three state universities and there is no state in Nigeria with up to three universities,” he added.

“It has continued to over-stretch our resources with the agony and risks of students going from one location to another at a time of insecurity.

“The need for a unified system became necessary to save government the resources, demands and inconveniences occasioned by the robust demands of supervision and monitoring.

“It will also allow for even and proper development of the campus so that students will graduate from an environment that really enables acquisition of knowledge and instills sense of pride in the graduating students.”