The Federal Executive Council has approved the contract for a dedicated power line for middle Ogun Irrigation project phase one in Iseyin, Oyo State.
The approval which came during the 26th meeting of the council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja on Wednesday also saw the council approve about N12.7 billion for the implementation of various projects across the country.
It would be noted that the construction of a dedicated high tension power lines from Iseyin to the dam site in ikere and the middle ogun irrigation scheme is in order to connect to the national grid.
According to the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, the irrigation system used to be powered by diesel generators, “but because of deregulation and with diesel it has become so expensive and not sustainable.”
“So, we have to look for other ways and means to power irrigation systems. We are looking at both the National grid and solar. In this case, we have an interim arrangement to extend power for national grid power to irrigation scheme and in the future, before it is finished, we will take it to solar.”
He said that capacity coverage is about 3,000 hectares while about 1,300 hectares have already been finished but cannot be irrigated because of lack of power