As one of the cardinal points of his ‘rebuild Imo administration,’ Governor Emeka Ihedioha of Imo State has among other landmark achievements within the first 100 days of his regime established an independent power agency, otherwise called Imo State Power and Rural Electrification Agency (I-POREA) to light up Imo communities.
The bill for the setting up of the agency had been passed by the Imo State House of Assembly and signed into law by the governor penultimate week, thereby bringing to eight number of executive bills signed by the governor within the first 100 days of his administration.
Disclosing the urgent need for the establishment of the independent power agency in the state, the Director General of the agency, Dr. Albert Ogugua Okorogu, who was until recently, the Executive Director, Networks, Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) Limited, the special purpose vehicle for Nigeria National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP), said it was due to the importance of electricity to drive the small and medium scale industries and to boost the state economy that the governor decided to place premium of power.
According to him, over 700 communities in the state do not have electricity for the past eight years and therefore to break the shackles of darkness across and promote SMEs in the state, the governor wants to spur the economy of the state.
Okorogu, who was addressing a foreign investor in Owerri, maintained that the need to use waste-to-power (WTP) as source of renewable energy would help to solve the epileptic power in the state.
“The Governor, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha wants to provide power to the rural dwellers that are denied the national grid to power their enterprises”, he said.
He assured the investor that the state was not interested to exploit but to provide the enabling environment for businesses to thrive, so that both government and investors would benefit. – Thisday.
