The Governor Alex Otti-led Abia State Government has revealed it’s ambitious plans to acquire 60 per cent stake in the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC.
According to Prince Okey Kanu, the Commissioner for Information, who made this known at a press briefing on the outcome of the state’s week’s Executive Council meeting, the bid has already been submitted to the EEDC, adding that talks had reached advanced stage.
Kanu explained that the bid is geared towards boosting power distribution in Umuahia, the state capital, and other contiguous council areas.
Furthermore, he said the move was in line with efforts of the state government to fast-track development of the state.
The Commissioner also announced that the process of of ring-fencing eight LGAs in Abia Central and Abia North was ongoing.
He also said the state government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with MTN Nigeria Limited for a digital transformation of the state, covering six major areas.
The strategic partnership between the state and MTN Nigeria, Kanu said, is the outcome of several months of negotiations between Abia State Government officials and the MTN management, adding that the partnership would help the state to leverage technology to drive socio-economic growth.
He identified the areas affected to include: 100 per cent coverage of the population and space of the entire state with broadband access before end of 2025; provision of 4G and 5G services in Aba, Umuahia and Ohafia; and device ownership scheme for Abia civil servants (a situation whereby MTN will finance the acquisition of laptops, smartphones, and Wi-Fi devices for civil servants.)
Others include: digital governance (provision of cloud services and dedicated cloud computing service); establishment of Abia digital mall; and provision of a digital marketplace to drive both e-governance and e-commerce in the state.
Similarly, the Commissioner for Power and Public Utilities, Ikechukwu Monday,
revealed that Abia is among the pilot states for an EU-sponsored the Solar- for- Health-Power Project, that would be launched in a week’s time.
According to him, while Abia State will pay a counterpart funding of 30%, the EU will bring 70% finance, or two million Euros.
He explained that on completion, the project would light up a minimum of nine health facilities across the state.
Also, Mr Ogbonnia Okereke, the General Manager of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency, ASEPA, disclosed that the agency had commenced door-to-door collection of waste in some parts of Aba, Umuahia; and street-to-street collections in some parts of Abia North.
He explained that the initiative, talkies with the government’s efforts to keep the state clean, adding that residents, and even Abia people in the Diaspora had lauded the project.
