*Ode-Aye to be reconnected to the grid this Xmas - BEDC assures Akeredolu*

By: Damisi Ojo, Akure (The Nation newspaper)

After months of rigorous engagement and rapprochement between the government of Ondo State and the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), all is now set for the re-energizing of the ancient town of Ode-Aye, one of the major communities that have suffered electricity deprivation in Southern senatorial district of Ondo State.

It should be recalled that governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, had earlier issued a stern directive through his Technical Committee on Power that everything must be done to end the unacceptable darkness that have enveloped the region in the past twelve years .

That charge has now paid off as the Managing Director of the Disco, Mrs. Funke Osibodu, who spoke through the Regional Head of BEDC in Ondo and Ekiti States, Mrs. Kunbi Labiyi, has charged the company’s field staff to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that Ode-Aye people can enjoy electricity starting from the 2018 Christmas celebration.

Officials of the Office of Public Utilities (OPU) in the Governor’s Office who visited the town on inspection, as representatives of the state government, confirmed that rehabilitation works on the distribution infrastructure in Ode-Aye has now been completed including the reconstruction of 5 sub-stations that were earlier vandalized.

Once Ode-Aye is re-energized, it would bring to four the numbers of communities in the South that now have electricity in 2018.


Between August and October, Akeredolu energized all the houses in Ebute-Ipare and Aboto towns in Ilaje local government area of the state as well as majority of the houses in Igbobini town in Ese-odo local government area using solar power under the state’s SHoPU scheme.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Utilities, Engr. Tunji Ariyomo, explained to reporters that over the past 15 months, the governor has worked behind the scene with agencies of the federal government such as the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).

He said “We are now gradually seeing the result of such behind the scene intervention. This year, Mr. Governor has commissioned an additional 60MWA transformer in Akure to strengthen transmission in both Ondo and Ekiti states.

“The NDPHC, where one of our sons, Engr. Ife Oyedele, is an Executive Director is now providing unprecedented rehabilitation services in parts of Ondo South while some of our PPP partners are now attaining financial closures in multi-billion Naira mini-grid and on-grid power intervention projects in Ondo State”.

“By fixing Ode-Aye this Christmas, it takes us a step closer to permanently resolving power supply to Okitipupa which is the largest load centre in Ondo South”.

http://thenationonlineng.net/five-year-after-bedc-to-reconnect-ode-aye-community/