By Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse
Jigawa State Governor Muhammed Badaru Abubakar has assured of the resolve of the Federal Government to set up an industrial hub adjacent to the newly commissioned Gagarawa Power station.
Governor Muhammed Badaru, who stated this Saturday during the commissioning ceremony of a new 2 x 60 MVA, 132/33KV transmission substation at Gagarawa Local Government Area, declared that the station would be utilised for the provision of electricity to a proposed future industrial hub.
The governor declared that the state has over the years suffered from the non-existence of any industries that could provide jobs and economic growth of both the people and the state.
He said the commissioned power substation has for eight years been conceived but its realisation is as a result of the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Power, Eng Sale Mamman, that actualised its execution.
Earlier, the Minister of Power said the project is expected to boost the supply of electricity to several local government areas of Jigawa State.
Eng Mamman said: ‘In our effort to address challenges of the critical power infrastructure in the country, the FG, through the Ministry of Power, has inaugurated several projects such as the recently commissioned 150MVA 330/132KV Kumbotso transmission Substation in Kano, the construction of a 132/33KV Transmission Substation at Kabba, Kogi State; and the commissioning of the132KV Katampe-National Stadium transmission line project and the new 330/132/33KV substation, New Apo, Abuja.’
According to the Minister, ‘it is necessary at this point to share the fact that the Ministry of Power has launched its Central Data Management System, which is a digital platform for electrification, planning and monitoring under the umbrella of the Nigeria Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative.
‘We recently launched the National Mass Metering Program supported by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to urgently and immediately address the metering gap and eradicate estimated billing in the sector.’
He further added that ‘under the initial phase of the Presidential Mass Metering Initiative of supporting the DisCos with the much-needed financing for the bulk acquisition of 1,000,000 meters, the installation of which is at no cost to the consumers has already started in Kano, Kaduna, Lagos and Abuja.’
