The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has confirmed that it has completed and connected the 132/33kv electricity substation it built at Ode-Erinje in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State to the national grid.
The NDDC’s Executive Director of Projects, Victor Antai, while speaking during an inspection of the project, described the power station as a legacy project that would boost economic activities in Ondo State and improve the living standards of the benefitting communities.
Antai stressed that the NDDC was committed to providing electricity to oil-producing communities in Ondo South Senatorial District that had been without electricity for the past 15 years.
He added that the sub-station would be inaugurated in April.
“The power sub-station is a legacy project which is in line with the directive of our Managing Director/CEO, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, to see to the completion and commissioning of legacy projects that will make a meaningful impact on the lives of our people.
“The MD/CEO has also directed that we replicate this legacy project across all states in the Niger Delta and we thank the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu for giving the NDDC a performing Governing Board that has the interest of the people at heart”, he said.
He added, “We are committed to lighting up all the local government areas and the oil-producing communities in Ondo South Senatorial District.
“This is part of NDDC’s mandate to provide infrastructure and development projects in the Niger Delta region. The Commission is committed to fulfilling this mandate by completing all ongoing projects”.
Antai also noted that the power substation would provide electricity to over 2,000 communities across five local government areas within the oil-producing region of Ondo State, significantly impacting lives by ending decades of darkness.
He added that the NDDC had awarded a contract for the total rehabilitation of the distribution network because it was eager to hook up the power lines to the injection substation and enable the benefiting communities to enjoy electricity from the national grid.
Speaking further on the project, Benson Obayelu, who spoke for the contracting firm, said that the scope of the power project covered the evacuation of light from Omotosho with a step down at Ode-Erinje, Okitipupa, through a 132KV double circuit transmission line with two 30/40MVA transformers.
He noted, “The transmission lines run through Ireje with 145 electricity towers that are standing on concrete foundations”.
Obayelu said that the scope covers the evacuation of light from Omotosho with a step down at Ireje through a 132KV double circuit line with two 30/40MVA transformers at Okitipupa.
He observed that five local government areas in the Southern Senatorial district of Ondo State that have been without public power supply would be connected when the project was completed.
In his remarks, the Acting National Chairman of the Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria (TROMPCON), Dr Obafemi Ogbaro, said that in Ondo South Senatorial District, nothing mattered more than being connected to the national grid of the country, lamenting that his people had been in darkness for many years.
The Ondo State Representative on the NDDC Board, Otito Atikase, observed that several communities across five local government areas in the oil production belt of Ondo state were eagerly waiting for the lights to be turned on in their localities.
He said access to electricity was essential for economic development and improving the quality of life of the people, noting that lack of electricity had hindered growth and development in many communities in the Niger Delta region.
“NDDC’s efforts to provide electricity to these communities will have a significant impact on their lives and contribute to the overall development of the region”, Atikase stated.
The NDDC Director of Corporate Affairs, Pius Ughakpoteni, noted that the sub-station would be handed over to the Transmission Company of Nigeria for operational management after the inauguration.
He added that the milestone achievement was on the back of the performance bond recently signed by the interventionist agency with the Ministry of Niger Delta Development.
