An Ebonyi State lawmaker, Oluchukwu Ezeali, has promised to partner with the state government and stakeholders to restore power supply in his constituency.

The lawmaker said this in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday.

Mr Ezeali represents Afikpo North East Constituency in the Ebonyi State House of Assembly

The lawmaker’s reaction followed protests against the outage by residents of Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, over more than 10 years.

Mr Ezeali said that power supply would be restored to the constituency with the intervention of the governor and the presidency.

He advised residents of Afikpo North to be patient with political office holders working round the clock to solve the problem.

He promised to ensure restoration of power supply and also to hold regular meetings with the constituents to get them updated.

He commended the state governor, Francis Nwifuru, for his positive response and commitment over the Afikpo light issue since his assumption of office.

“I appreciate all your concerns and the escalation of the lingering pathetic situation we find ourselves in Afikpo with regards to the absence of public power supply in Afikpo for over 10 years. I am bold to tell you that the Afikpo light issue is receiving the much needed attention, especially under the present administration of our people-oriented governor, Francis Nwifuru. Previous administrations did their best, but we should understand that technicalities involved in getting electricity projects to work is not as easy,’’ he said.

He recalled that the Essa Ehugbo Traditional Council led by Idume Igariwey, visited the governor on January 28, and presented the major concerns of Afikpo, part of which is the light issue.

“Our dear governor without hesitation obliged to tackle the issue among other things as contained in their letter,” he said.

He said that some bottlenecks were noticed in the execution of the project which had been communicated to the relevant government quarters.

Mr Ezeali said that the governor had stepped into the matter, stressing that was also meeting doing his best to address them

He said that the Ebonyi State government had created a dedicated body called Rural Electrification Commission whose primary responsibility was to solve the problems of rural electricity power problems in the state.

He said restoration of electricity supply to Afikpo would be a priority for the commission. 

(NAN)