Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has assured the people of the state that his administration has put all machinery in place to ensure adequate and uninterrupted power supply to the state before the end of his administration.
Fayemi, who lamented the poor power supply to the State by Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), said his administration had concluded plans with the Federal Government to build two 132/133 kva substations in Ekiti to boost electricity generation and transmission in the state.
He added that plans were also being concluded on a new Independent Power Project (IPP) initiative aimed at repositioning the sector for effective service delivery.
The governor stated this while receiving the 20 graduates of National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) from Ekiti State who were on a thank you visit to his office on Monday evening.
Fayemi said his administration was determined to continue to ensure capacity development of Ekiti people especially the youths in key areas of development of which power distribution is number one.
He described the youths as exemplar and role models who have demonstrated that it is possible for government to make concerted efforts in identifying people who are endowed to be developed further in their career path and held to benefit from whatever government is able to do.
The Governor said government would review vacancy situation in Ekiti State Electricity Board first and foremost and later the Independent Power Project that is in the pipeline with a view to absorbing them into the state civil service.
“If there is one area that we are unhappy about in terms of our development in the state, it is the availability of electricity. We have been on it from day one when Professor Aluko chaired a committee negotiating, discussing with BEDC to improve what comes to our state, to make electricity available to the people. and almost half of the state is cut off from electricity, whether in Gboyin Local Government or in Ekiti West even in Ado, parts of Ado that have not had electricity for a considerable period exist.
“Anything that advances our objectives of lightning up Ekiti State, we will always be enthusiastic about it and that is why for us you are exemplars, you are role models and you have also demonstrated that it is possible for Government to make concerted efforts in identifying people who are endowed to be developed further in their career path and held to benefit from whatever Government is able to do and I am glad that you all did Ekiti proud.”
Earlier, the Director General of the Office of Transformation and Service Delivery (OTSD), Prof. Bolaji Aluko commended the Governor for giving Ekiti youths the opportunity to develop themselves in their various areas of specialization, stressing that Ekiti has ambitious plans for energy and power and they would form a formidable group of people to bring that to realization.
Prof. Aluko hoped that government would retain as many of them as possible into the state civil service to strengthen the power drive of the state government.
The leader of the team, Jamiu Ahmed, who expressed the appreciation of the beneficiaries to the state governor for his efforts at human capital development appealed to the governor to further assist them for job placement in order to make use of the knowledge they have acquired to bring improvement to the electricity sector of the state.
