Hussaini Kafi in Kano
Kano State Government has regretted the recent total blackout of electricity supply in Northern Nigeria, with significant economic loss worth billions of naira in Kano.
Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf raised the concern when he received the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu on courtesy visit at Government House in Kano.
The governor lamented the outage of electricity supply as a result of the nefarious activities of vandals on the critical national infrastructure along the Shiroro-Mando 330kV line corridor has brought set back to life and livelihood in the state.
Worsening still, the state government has expressed worry over the obstructions and break down of services the power outage inflicted on critical sectors including healthcare facilities, Education Institutions, and Financial institutions while crippling revenue generation.
Yusuf emphasized the impact of the energy cut was highly devastating in Kano because of its extreme distance to National grid, added that the little voltage supply is mostly being limited by fluctuation.
Represented by Chief of Staff, Alhaji Shehu Wada Sagagi, the governor appealed to the Minister to ensure Kano get additional Megawatts, to compliment it’s present allocation to solve energy deficit in the state.
Equally, Yusuf pleaded with the Federal government to expedite action on the constructions of second Kaduna – Kano 330KV and Daura-Jogana-Kura 330KV, and immediate commencement of the solar project approved for 19 Northern states by the President.
His words: “the blackout causes significant loss in billions of naira to the industries in the state. Also affected the areas of revenue generation, health care sector and day to day activities of the populace”.
The governor used the occasion to intimates the visitor on the giant stride made on the state Independent Hydro Power plants, designed to aggregate electricity needs in the state.
According to him, “revealing that the 10 megawatts Tiga Hydro Power Plant is currently in operation, while that of Challawa with six megawatts is at 65 percent of completion. It is pertinent to mention that the state government is in the final stage of settling all compensation for the transmission project carried out by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in the State,”.
On his part, Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu apologized to the Northern region over the power blackout, saying President Bola Tinubu did not intend to discriminate against the region or any section of the country as being perceived by at some quarters.
He assured that efforts are on going to restore the main transmission line from Shiroro, stressing that by Sunday the full restoration of electricity would be confirmed.
The minister called on governments at all levels to join hands in protection of power facilities across the country.
