The government of Oyo State has solicited the support and collaboration of the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) in a bid to improve on power generation and supply in the state.
The Director-General, Oyo State Liaison Office in Abuja and Lagos, Hon. Wale Ajani, who spoke on behalf of the state government at a courtesy visit to the commission in Abuja, disclosed that the visit was strategic to the Governor Seyi Makinde’s Omituntun 2.0 agenda.
The ECN Director-General, Eli Jidere Bala, who personally received Ajani, commended Makinde for assigning such strategic role to an individual with passion for the development of the state, assuring that with a good working relationship with the state, the energy commission would make a budgetary allocation for sustainable energy for the state in its next year’s budget.
Speaking with journalists in Ibadan, the state capital, during his brief Salah holiday, Ajani who maintained that the federal commission must, as a matter of necessity, partner with it in the area of energy and power, especially alternative energy, stressing that the state governor has laid the foundation as a producing state with high prospects in manufacturing and industrialisation.
Ajani noted that with the magnitude of physical infrastructural development already in place and still ongoing, the state has strategically positioned itself to compete favourably with other neighbouring states with high level of manufacturing activities and industrialisation, such as Lagos and Ogun states.
Ajani explained that Makinde had already commenced the implementation of what he called green energy and sustainable power generation to meet the demands of consumers, both domestic and industrial consumption, adding that such federal commission partnering with the state would accelerate the process of achieving the desired goal in the sector.
Stressing the readiness of the state to fully key into the energy programmes of the Commission, he further emphasised that such strategic collaboration would culminate into attaining the sustainable power generation and supply that would reduce the pressure on national grid.
Ajani however, disclosed that he solicited for an annual consideration of the state in all the programmes of the energy commission and other job opportunities the commission might be providing Nigerians, in order to also adequately capture the state indigenes in the Commission’s recruitment exercises.
“The essence of my visit to the Commission was to explore all available avenues and opportunities to attract the Commission’s presence to the state because power generation and supply have been two important items on Governor Seyi Makinde’s agenda, and you could all see that the importance attached to these two items gave birth to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.
“So, as we begin to prepare ahead for Omituntun 2.0 under the Accelerated Development Agenda, we must begin to seriously consolidate on the gains of Omituntun 1.0 under the Governor’s Sustainable Development Agenda, so that the future does not catch us off guard. We are ready for it.
“We already have the buy-in and assurances of the Energy Commission through the DG, my very good brother, who has expressed readiness of the commission to also collaborate with Oyo State in all possible ways. Very soon, you will see more coming out of that very important meeting, but for now, let’s keep working.” Ajani said.
Ajani told journalists that the Energy Commission Director General, Eli Jidere Bala, has assured that whatever any Government would want to achieve required energy, and with Governor Makinde being an energetic person, the commission would do everything possible to support the state.
According to Ajani, the Director-General also affirmed that the energy commission had been a friend of the pacesetter state, as it had been doing a lot for it, such as mini grids and constituency projects of most of the National Assembly members in Lagelu and Iyana Offa, among others.
He advised Ajani to synergize more with the National Assembly members from the state to harness more sustainable energy projects in their subsequent constituency projects, in order to benefit more from the Commission.
Ajani also disclosed that the Director-General thereafter summoned the Procurement Director and Director of Budget Monitoring and Evaluation to give every needed support to Oyo Otate in any ongoing and subsequent sustainable energy projects of the Commission.
