By Aminah Carew
The Ekiti State Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an electricity generation firm, Fen-Church Power Nigeria Limited, to build three megawatts substations to stabilise the electricity supply in the state.
The power generation concept under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) was arranged in such a way that the firm will build the power plants and generate electricity that would be sold to the state for consumption.
Speaking after the signing of the MoU yesterday, the state Commissioner for Public Utilities, Bamidele Faparusi, said the project is expected to be delivered in August 2021, and that it was conceptualised to halt sole dependence on the national grid for electricity generation.
“This is an independent power arrangement that will increase electricity supply to Ekiti State in addition to what we are getting from the national grid.
“But the electricity will be consumed solely by government institutions in the state. With this arrangement, all government institutions will enjoy 24 hours power supply. Also, our street lights, booster stations, institutions, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, our primary and secondary health facilities, schools among others will enjoy it.
“What we are getting from the federal government is not adequate. We want to take the state institutions out of the national grid so that the little we are getting can be channeled to our people to stabilise power in the state, and it going to be a win-win situation.
“It Is a service contract, the power service company will provide the plant and we will buy at the rate of N58.20k per kilowatts. We will lay a strong legal structure for it to enjoy continuity so that no new government will come and reverse this policy,” he stated.
Faparusi added that the electricity generation programme is an investment drive that would develop the state knowledge-based economy, government institutions, and other parastatals.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Funso Adeyemi, said the company would be coming to Ekiti State with good experts that would deliver the job in record time.
According to him, “We are here for a quality job. It is a PPP collaboration that would last long because we plan to be here for a long time.
“This company has the experience to develop power plant from the scratch. We are going to deliver and do the state proud because we know that power is very essential to the survival of any economy.”
