The Abia government on Tuesday said 53 transformers of different specifications would be distributed to selected communities as part of its power sector recovery programme.

Speaking during the commencement of the exercise in Umuahia, the Commissioner for Power and Public Utilities, Ikechukwu Monday, described the delivery of the transformers as a testament to the state government’s vision to “light up Abia”.

He said, “This is part of the set of transformers that will be delivered in the state to fulfil his mandate of providing reliable electricity to Ndi Abia.

“So we just received the first batch, and we intend to distribute it to 53 communities within the state to support them in boosting electricity supply. This is part of efforts made by the government to boost electricity supply in Abia.”

Mr Monday said the distribution would be done in phases to ensure sustained impact and opportunities for more communities to benefit.

The commissioner expressed the determination of the administration to collaborate with stakeholders to strengthen the power sector.

“We received requests on faulty transformers that need to be upgraded, and we received some that we had to address with the EEDC (Enugu Electricity Distribution Company), especially in Umuahia.

“The EEDC has intervened in some; also, Aba Power Limited has intervened for the people in the Aba ring-fenced area. So the ones that were not attended to are part of this programme,” he said.

He said the criteria for selecting benefitting communities include high population density, commercial hubs, high-security risk and “first-come-first-serve”.

Mr Monday said the approach was adopted to address immediate needs and ensure fairness in the exercise.

He said the communities not captured in the first batch would be captured in the next batch in January.

He urged the benefitting communities to take ownership of the transformers they had received from the government.

“The major issues we found out, or most complaints that we have, are that most of the transformers are being vandalised, energy theft and all of that.

“The communities should make sure they protect them because we will monitor it, and all the transformers will be engraved with the Abia government logo,” he said.

(NAN)