Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has inaugurated the 2×60 Mega Volt Ampree (MVA) 132/33 Kilo Volt (KV) Awka Substation in Anambra State, built by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) to improve power supply to the state.

A statement by the NDPHC said that the Vice President, who is also the Chairman of NDPHC Board, inaugurated the project on Tuesday. Speaking at the ceremony, Osinbajo reiterated Federal Government’s commitment to continue to create enabling environment for businesses to grow in the country.

Osinbajo noted that for Nigeria’s economy to grow at required rate, small businesses have to be supported by both the Federal and State governments.

He said that the new substation, built by the NDPHC, would deliver about 100 Mega Watts (MW) of power to the Anambra state capital and its environs.

“The economy of Nigeria largely depends on efforts made at the sub-national level, that’s the state level.

“It is the aggregation of the work that is done in the states that leads to the great economy that we hope for and are working for in this nation of ours.

“Anambra State revenue has increased from about N10.4 billion in 2014 to N26.37 billion as at 2019 and this is another 152 per cent increase in the state’s Internal Generated Revenue (IGR),” he said.

The VP said that enabling environment and ease of doing business implemented in Anambra has seen it becoming one of the fastest growing manufacturing hubs in the country.

He said that Nnewi houses key local manufacturing companies, including Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing, Tommy Tommy Industries, Chikason Group, amongst others, is evidence of the entrepreneurial ability of the Nigerian people and the drive is possible but also importantly the enabling environment that states can create.”

Osinbajo emphasised that the way the economy will develop is through small businesses powered by states and assisted as much as possible by the Federal Government.

He pointed out that the industrial growth of the state happened despite power supply challenge, adding that the new substation is a direct measure by the government to address the challenge.

“Since the technical commissioning of the substation in November 2020, this new substation has been in service providing 33KV evacuation capacity for at least 100MW of power through its two units of 60MVA, a total of 120MVA.

“The commitment of the administration to ensure the completion of the Awka NIPP 132KVA grid substation now provides a hitherto unavailable 70MW additional power capacity for driving industrial growth and boosting the economy of the state, with a positive effect on employment and social-economic upliftment for residents of the state,” he said.

Also speaking, the Anambra state Governor, Willie Obiano, thanked the Federal Government and the NDPHC for constructing the substation, saying it will greatly boost the industrialization of the state.

Obiano noted that with improved power supply to the state, many industries would save the cost of self generation of electricity.

He said that the newly-commissioned shoe making factory and the cargo airport would be direct beneficiaries of the new substation.

Earlier in his address, the Managing Director of NDPHC, Mr. Chiedu Ugbo, disclosed that besides the industries, about a million households in Awka and its environs will benefit from improved power supply.

Ugbo said that the project is one of the several transmission projects conceived under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) being implemented by NDPHC.

He said that the project is part of Federal Government’s commitment towards improving electricity transmission infrastructure in the country.

He explained that “the substation is provided with six 33kV feeders to enable a robust power evacuation to the following hitherto constrained locations of the EEDC Franchise territory of Anambra, including two premium new locations critical to the Anambra Government, the Awka Township 33/11kV Injection Substation; the Agu Awka 2unit 15MVA 33/11kV Injection Substation serving the nearby Agu Awka Industrial Layout; the Enugu-Ukwu 33/11kV Injection Substation; the Aguleri/Umuleri 33/11kV Injection Substation; the New Anambra Airport; and the New Awka Millennium City.”

He also said that the company has recently completed a 32 Kilometers (KM) of line with one unit of 2.5MVA and injection substation to the new airport in the state.

“The feeder from this Awka transmission substation will be supplying close to one million households spread over the urban and rural parts of the state, including existing and upcoming industrial layouts, factories, markets and other critical state infrastructures,” he added.

On her part, the Managing Director of News Engineering, the contractor who handled the project, Mrs Josephine Nwaeze, disclosed that the project was executed solely by Nigerians. She called on the Federal Government to make more projects available to indigenous companies to grow the economy. (NAN)