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Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu has flagged off what he termed as the Renewed Hope Light Up Project in Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State, with the distribution of 26 transformers and solar lights, targeting 42,000 households across the 13 electoral wards of his constituency.
This is as the Deputy Speaker equally signed a N100m contract with the Electricity company that installed the transformers for the restoration of light to Item and Alayi Wards, which have been disconnected for years.
Speaking while commissioning the solar lights, which marked the second phase of the project, the Deputy Speaker described access to power as the pressing need of the people uncovered during a constituency-wide needs assessment.
“In representation, one of the key expectations of the office of a representative is to do needs analysis, and in the course of doing needs analysis, we discovered that one of our greatest problems in this federal constituency is darkness, lack of access to power and that has affected our economic life, the security life of the community, the human capacity development and job creation, all of which fall under the proposition of the Renewed Hope Agenda, the eight agenda of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who from the start intended to improve the economic life of our nation, starting from the communities; create more jobs; improve the security of our communities, human capacity development, agriculture and food security and the list goes on”
Rt Hon Kalu stated that the project has two components, connecting communities to the national grid through the transformer distribution and providing alternative energy through solar for all homes in the constituency.
He said the intervention aligns with the eight-point Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which seeks to improve the economic life of Nigerians starting from the communities.
“What we are here to do is to drive that vision home, by making it a mission that our people can feel, touch and experience. Light before now to many homes in Bende seemed to be luxury. That has been demystified”, he said.
The Deputy Speaker further disclosed that he received approval of the plan from President Tinubu when he presented the figure of 42,000 households with a request to ensure children can read at night without kerosene lanterns and families can power their fans and charge phones.
While explaining that the rollout is in batches of 10,000 households, Kalu said 1,000 solar units have already been distributed to beneficiaries from all electoral wards in the constituency.
He disclosed that each solar unit will serve for 10 years, revealing that it comes with a maintenance agreement.
Also distributing the brand new transformers, Kalu explained that each of the 13 Wards in Bende will receive two transformers to gain access to the national grid and help boost their small scale and medium enterprises.
“Just like we promised that the light in Bende is in two phases, we have the one for national grid and then, we have places that have not experienced the effect of national grid. Based on that, we requested for alternative source of energy that is environmentally friendly and we chose solar. But we also know that while solar handles the home, the small and medium scale enterprises across Bende need support to power fridges, welding machines, small scale industries, you need a transformer to pick up power from the national grid. So, we have made provisions for all the Wards. Every Ward in Bende Federal Constituency wil receive two transformers.
“The decision on where they will be located will not be based on sentiment and will not be political. It will be needs- influenced decision. It will be decision based on lack of access to electricity. Thereafter, all parts will follow. So, my advise to the leaders when you go back is that these should not be packed in anybody’s home. They should be placed around the place it will be easier to be hooked to the national grid to be begin to serve greater number of the people”, he said.
In the meantime, the Deputy Speaker has signed a N100m contract with the Electricity company that installed the transformers for the restoration of light to Item and Alayi Wards, which have been disconnected for years.
He said signing of the contract was prompted by the prolonged electricity outages and vandalism of power infrastructure in rural communities in the area which have remained major obstacles to economic activities and local development.
He explained that the restoration work would address damaged electricity infrastructure, including fallen poles, disconnected power lines and vandalised distribution materials that had prevented affected communities from enjoying regular electricity supply.
Representatives of the affected communities attended the contract-signing ceremony, an arrangement Kalu said was intended to promote transparency and keep residents informed about the project.
