MEDIATRACNET
The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) has initiated a power distribution project to boost electricity supply to Rufus Giwa Polytechnic Owo in Ondo State.
The intervention project is the construction of a 2.5MVA 33/11kV injection substation with associated 33kV/11kV & LT lines, as well as installation of three 500kVA distribution substation transformers.
Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, who commissioned the project described it as another landmark achievement in the power sector.
The governor who was represented by his deputy, Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, thanked President Muhammadu Buhari through the management of Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) for the project executed as part of the initiative to provide electricity in higher institutions of learning in Ondo State and across the country.
“Looking at the technical details of this project and its benefits, an upgrade from 2.5MVA to 7.5MVA, I believe will address two critical areas of concern to our administration. This is another landmark achievement in the power sector.
“There is no gainsaying that power supply is very significant to our individual and national lives. Nigeria has had a long history of problematic public power supply. But when the APC government came on board, we promised to change the narrative through massive infrastructural development through policy direction and necessary reform to increase supply to the Nigerian populace,” he said.
Access to adequate electricity in educational facilities like Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, the governor said, would certainly improve learning processes and the general condition.
He said the electricity project would enable night academic activities the campus, describing it as critical to academic pursuit by students.
Also, he said providing electricity in campuses in the night would aid security operations and discourage criminal activities, apart from increasing economic activities on campus and its environs.
With regular power supply on campuses, the governor said students would have access to electricity to put to use educational appliances and teaching aids/tools like computers and internet facilities.
These, he said, would enhance their educational activities and further grant them access to additional online educational resources, improve their assimilation rate and narrow the digital divide through information and communication technology.
The NDPHC’s Executive Director, Networks, IfeOluwa Oyedele, said President Buhari administration was determined to take power to the people at the grassroots.
Oyedele said one of the ways of taking power to the grassroots was through initiatives by the NDPHC owned by the three tiers of government.
He said the NDPHC has, in its little way, tried to positively affect the life of every Nigerian.
“Just about three weeks ago, the President commissioned the 330/132/33kV transmission substation built by NDPHC in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
“From the Governor down to ordinary people on the streets, residents of Nasarawa State were ecstatic following the commissioning, because their lives have been positively affected. Before then, it was almost impossible to run even an air-conditioning unit in the Government House with public power supply.
Although he said it was not part of NDPHC’s mandate to be involved in the distribute electricity to communities, as its primary mandate was electricity generation, Oyedele explained however that the company had to intervene to provide transmission and distribution services, to extend power supply to all the nooks and crannies of he country.
“That is why although we are basically a power generation company, we provide transmission and distribution services, because we know that after generating electricity, it must get to the end users to become meaningful,” he said.
So far, he said NDPHC has constructed and commissioned over 350 Injection Substations, with a combined capacity of about 3,540MW across the country.
The company, he said, 2has further constructed about 2,600km of 11KV and 4600km of 33kV distribution lines to improve access to electricity and quality of power supply to consumers.
The Rector of the polytechnic, Gani Ogundahunsi, said the project would be a massive help for the institution, because we have been spending so much on diesel to provide electricity to the school.
“This facility is going to help us in distribution and every other thing as it pertains to power situation in this polytechnic. It is going to be a massive help to us and as such, we are extremely grateful to NDPHC and to Federal Government for this project, to help alleviate the suffering that many of our educational institutions are going through.
