George Onyejiuwa, Owerri

Long years of electricity blackouts in the oil-bearing communities of Imo State would soon be a thing of the past, as the Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ISOPADEC) has kicked off the  first round of electrification projects in six communities.

The benefitting communities include Awara Court Area and Umuapu Court Area, comprising: Awara, Asaa, Obitti, Umuapu, Ochia and Obile autonomous communities in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of the state, which have been kept without electricity for the past 20 years.

Governor Emeka Ihedioha performed the historic ground-breaking ceremony amid cheers from the people of the communities. He was accompanied to the event by his deputy, Gerald Irona, and other government officials.

Ihedioha said that the over-26km electrification project was in keeping with his promise during the campaigns, assuring residents that his government would construct roads, build hospitals and address insecurity in the area.

He said: “We came here today to perform the ground-breaking ceremony to signify the commencement of work for the electrification of this area. This project is in partnership with Waltersmith, one of the companies operating in this area. During the period of the campaigns, I came here and promised you that I would deploy the 13% Derivation Fund for the development of the communities in Ohaji-Egbema and Oguta LGAs. After my swearing in as governor, I directed that funds coming to ISOPADEC should be used to serve the people.

“We consider infrastructural development very important. We will tar the roads, provide electricity and healthcare facilities. We are also looking into the schools. We have come to see you six months into our government, to show dedication, decision and commitment of a government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Ihedioha, who admonished residents to be accommodating, said they should not see the oil companies operating in the area as their enemies but as development partners.

Related News

“The oil companies operating in this area are not our enemies. They are our friends. If we disrupt their activities, we would be short-circuiting ourselves. If you have any worries about them, please, report to the authorities, either to ISOPADEC, your House member or the Deputy Governor. I want to plead with you not to take the law into your hands again. We have discussed with the oil companies and they have agreed to commence empowerment programmes for our people. They will be setting up the largest gas plant in the country in this area. They need a conducive working environment. They will bring expatriates, but, please, don’t drive them away. Don’t confront them; we can use lawful means to get what we want. If you are fighting them, you are fighting the government and we will not support anybody who takes the law into his hands.”

Earlier in his address, the managing director of ISOPADEC, Owuoma Okwuosha, pledged that the commission would deploy its funds to the service of the people. He noted that, with a combined voting strength of 45,000, the benefiting communities were hosts to SPDC, SEPLAT, Waltersmith, with Sterling Global Oil Resources scheduled to commence oil well drilling appraisal in the first quarter of 2020 in Obitti.

Okwuosha thanked the governor for his support, noting that “despite this huge economic and human resource potential of these communities, past administrations in Imo State fraudulently neglected and marginalised the good people of Ohaji as well as all the other oil and gas-producing communities in Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta LGAs.”

He added that the current ISOPADEC was implementing the governor’s vision as encapsulated in the Rebuild Imo Agenda.

“The project we are launching today is aimed at connecting the entire Ohaji to the national power grid. It is a joint project of Waltersmith Petroleum Limited and ISOPADEC. Waltersmith Petroleum Limited, in keeping with its corporate social responsibility, has graciously partnered with ISOPADEC and paid over 60% of her 50% funding contribution for the electrification of their host Awara/Ochia, Assa/Obile and Umuapu/Obiti Communities in Ohaji, Ohaji/Egbema LGA,” he said.

He expressed optimism that the line would be connected to the national grid without delay: “The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, in continuation of the existing partnership with ISOPADEC, will act as advisors to the project. Our relationship with EEDC will ensure that once the project is completed the line would be hooked up to the national grid without delay so that there will not be any room for vandalism of the power lines.”

Meanwhile, the commission recently restored electricity to some communities in Oguta LGA after eight years of blackout, while work was ongoing in some others.