Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has called on the management of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company to urgently address the current irregular power supply in the state.
Adeleke, who made the demand at a meeting held with the management of the company in Ibadan, Oyo State, described the state as a critical stakeholder in the Nigerian power sector with Osogbo, the state capital, hosting the National Transmission Control Centre.
The governor said it was “unacceptable that the state will be having an epileptic power supply,” the situation he stressed has been affecting the local economy and businesses badly.
A statement by the spokesperson for the governor, Olawale Rasheed, on Saturday quoted Adeleke as saying, “Apart from the fact that power outages contribute to growing insecurity, there are also issues of extortion of customers through transformer procurement, estimated billing that exploits the consumers and inability of some residents of the state to buy energy due to the old metering system.
“To this effect, Osun is already working to enact the State’s Electricity System Law that will enable it to set up a Power Sector Regulatory Agency with a view to ensuring that people of Osun State are properly served within IBEDC franchise areas.
“As a government, we are already working to enact the Osun Electricity system law. We will be setting up a power sector regulatory agency. We will introduce off grid options and widen alternative energy sources.”
Responding, the Managing Director of IBEDC, Mr. Kingsley Achiefe, commended Adeleke for the interface, saying the firm was ready to collaborate with the government with a view to serving their customers better.
It was reported that Osun State Commissioner for Energy, Festus Adeyemo, recently said the state had commenced work to generate and distribute energy but identified the challenge of funding as a major drawback against the plan.