It was all excitement and jubilation in Inikorogha, a prominent Ijaw community in Ovia South Local Government Area of Edo State, as the lawmaker representing the area in the House of Representatives, Dennis Idahosa, made good his campaign promise to connect the community to the national grid. Hitherto, the community had been relying on power generating sets for their electricity needs since its existence.
Addressing newsmen at the flag-off of the project, Idahosa, who represents Ovia Federal Constituency, said the project, covering a distance of 30km from Udo to Inikorogha, would be executed by the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) and would take off immediately as according to him, the contractor had been fully mobilized to commence the execution of the project.
Highlighting the potentials of the rural electrification project, Idahosa noted that it would serve many purposes, especially boosting small-scale businesses that require electricity.
He said “I am elated with the award of the contract for the project. This is particularly so because this community will be electrified and connected to the national grid. We are not just talking of electrification here, but the multiplier effect of this project to the people. It will spur commercial activities in the area. This is not just going to be another sing-song project; the contractor has been fully mobilised to immediately commence the execution of the project”.
Reacting to the contract award, the community described as “unbelievable” the news of the electrification project and commended Idahosa for fulfilling his campaign promise to them.
Spokesman of the community and ex-militant, Robert Okubor, said excitedly that it would be the first of its kind in the ijaw community, stating that the community would see to its successful execution by providing the necessary support to the contractor.
According to him, “We are indeed elated. Even our ancestors who had prayed for this are happy. When Idahosa made this promise during his campaign, though we have been supporting him through prayers, it was hard to believe that this day will come. He has been spreading constituency projects across the nooks and cranny of the federal constituency, and now ours have come.
“The only electricity you see here are individual efforts through generators. The semblance of whatever the community had in electricity by government or organizations, was also through generating sets.
“In 1991, a company named Africa Timber and Plywood Company gave the Inikorogha community a generating plant while same was supplemented by the military administration of Anthony Onyearegbulem in 1997. All this have broken down over 25 years ago. You can see the reason why we are happy and ready to do all, including providing security for the contractor of this project”.
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