The governor of Abia State, Alex Otti has explained why residents of Aba, the state’s commercial city enjoyed uninterrupted power supply despite the collapse of the national grid on Tuesday, January 27.
In a video seen by Bellnews, the governor was captured saying that the state is gravitating towards clean energy through the use of biogas to ensure residents enjoy maximum electricity supply.
According to him, Abia State is relying on technology to convert waste into clean and renewable energy for electricity distribution and consumption.
He also said that this initiative would gradually be scaled up to other parts of the state, especially in Umuahia, the Abia State capital city.
“So, we went into clean energy and provided Abia with renewable energy from biogas and this is a pilot programme. So we want instead of the organic waste that we are disposing of, we can turn them with this technology into energy; clean energy and we will be able to power a lot more places particularly in the Umuahia Ring Fence,” Otti said.
The governor further explained that his administration has already made an offer to the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company and that Abia State is in the process of raising funds to ensure a swift and complete change of the power distribution process across the state.
“Talking about the Umuahia Ring Fence, we had reported earlier that our offer to the EEDC has been accepted and we are in the process of raising the funds to pay off EEDC.
“On the 24 of December, the Abia State Electricity Authority took over from the National Electricity Authority, the regulation – so everything about distribution, generation and transmission is going to be regulated within the state and the whole idea is to ensure energy sufficiency and independence within the state.
“Just like the Aba Power provides power for the Aba Ring Fence, I am sure you would have been aware that some of the disasters that happened recently, our state was not affected because a whole part of our power asset is within our authority and that is the whole idea about acquiring the Umuahia Ring Fence.
“I am happy that we are making a lot of progress in that area,” Otti added.