Following the commissioning of the 132KV transmission line and 132KV/33KV substation in Ode Erinje, Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) has restored electricity to some streets in Okitipupa town after 15 years of blackout in Ondo South Senatorial District, Starnews NG reports.
Residents of Akinloye Estate in Okitipupa town confirmed the development to Starnews NG on Friday.
The Ode Erinje Power Substation, which draws its electricity from the Omotosho Power Plant, is designed to illuminate over 2,000 communities spanning five local government areas in the senatorial district.
Represented by the Hon. Minister of Niger Delta Development, Engr. Abubakar Momoh, the project was commissioned by the President on Wednesday as a lasting solution to the electricity challenge of the Senatorial District.
Starnews NG gathered that the distribution of electricity would only be released to places where repair of electrical damages have been completed by the BEDC.
Starnews NG learnt that electricity is likely to be restored to Ode Aye Community today in areas without electric damages.
The BEDC is expected to resume repairs of electric damages within the towns of the affected four local governments as supply of power is being released in batches to communities or streets of the affected communities without damage.
Recall that electricity was partially restored in 2018 to Ode Aye town in Okitipupa Local Government and a few areas in Okitipupa and Igbokoda towns after a long while following major rehabilitation of electricity facilities by the Federal government through the Niger-Delta Power Holding Company Ltd (NDPHCL). But a few months after, the communities slipped into darkness again.
Upon findings, the disco (BEDC) complained that the entire Ondo South depends on Ondo Transmission Substation which is obtained from Ife/Oshogbo 132Kv line, and they claimed that the 132k line operated by TCN has been overloaded and no longer sustainable to reconnect Ondo South.
They told the Bring Back Our Light Group (BBOL) and other stakeholders in the struggle that the Ondo Transmission Station has two 30mva Transformers and only 1 of the 30mva transformers was working and that the transformer supplies power to Ondo Town, Ore, Oke-Igbo, Ile-Oluji, Odigbo and its environs.
They said the other TCN 30mva transformer had a faulty breaker for over the years without replacement or repair by the government.
According to them, all the attempts to transfer all locations into the one working TCN transformer resulted in severe voltage drop to the Ondo South axis which caused poor and none useful power (‘candlelight’) and the same could not be sustained any longer.
They insisted that the only 30mva transformer in Ondo town that is working cannot power the overall communities in Ondo South any more.
Hence, many of the towns in Ondo South again slipped into darkness after electrical damages were repaired because of the depreciating condition of the only working 30mva transformer in Ondo town, which the entire Senatorial District depends upon.
The BEDC management requested the BBOL Group and every stakeholder to follow up with the timely completion and installation of the Erinje Transmission substation as the lasting solution to reconnect all the communities in the five affected local governments of Ondo South, which, according to them, is the only way out of the total blackouts in the district.
This was the reason the BBOL group and other stakeholders, including the immediate past Senator of Ondo South, Otunba Nicholas Tofowomo, shifted attention to the timely completion and installation of the Erinje Transmission substation as the only lasting solution, Starnews NG can report.
With the latest development, at last, the good people of Ondo South will now enjoy a stable supply of electricity.
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