The Oyo State Government has sought the support and collaboration of the Energy Commission of Nigeria in a bid to improve on power generation and supply in the state.
The Director General, Oyo State Liaison Office in Abuja and Lagos, Hon Wale Ajani who spoke on behalf of the state government at a courtesy visit to the commission in Abuja on April 11, disclosed that the visit was key and strategic to Governor ‘Seyi Makinde’s Omituntun 2.0 agenda.
In the meantime, the Director General of the Energy Commission, Eli Jidere Bala who received Ajani, commended Makinde for assigning such a strategic role to a young, vibrant and energetic individual with passion for the development of the state.
He added that with a good working relationship with Oyo State being one of the most populous states, the Energy Commission would make a budgetary allocation for sustainable energy for the state in the next year’s budget of the commission.
Speaking with newsmen in Ibadan, Oyo State capital during his brief Salah holiday, Ajani who maintained that the federal commission must as a matter of necessity partner with Oyo State in the area of Energy and Power especially alternative energy, stressed that the state governor has laid the foundation for Oyo as a producing state with high prospects in manufacturing and industrialisation.
Ajani noted that with the magnitude of physical infrastructural development already in place and still ongoing, Oyo State has strategically positioned itself to compete favourably with other neighbouring states with high levels of manufacturing activities and industrialisation such as Lagos and Ogun States.
Ajani explained that Makinde has already commenced the implementation of what he called green energy and sustainable power generation to meet the demands of consumers; both domestic and industrial consumption, adding that such federal commission partnering with Oyo State would accelerate the process of achieving the desired goal in the sector.
While stressing the readiness of the state to fully key into the energy programmes of the Federal Commission, Ajani emphasised that such a strategic collaboration would culminate into attaining the sustainable power generation and supply that would in turn reduce the pressure on the national grid.
He, however, disclosed that he solicited for an annual consideration of Oyo State in all the programmes of the Energy Commission and other job opportunities the commission may be providing Nigerians in order to also adequately capture Oyo State indigenes in the commission’s recruitment exercises.
“The essence of my visit to the commission was to explore all available avenues and opportunities to attract the commission’s presence to the state because power generation and supply have been two important items on Governor ‘Seyi Makinde’s agenda and you could all see that the importance attached to these two items gave birth to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.
“So, as we begin to prepare ahead for Omituntun 2.0 under the Accelerated Development Agenda, we must begin to seriously consolidate on the gains of Omituntun 1.0 under the Governor’s Sustainable Development Agenda so that the future does not catch us off guard, we are ready for it.
“We already have the buy-in and assurances of the Energy Commission through the DG, my very good brother, who has expressed readiness of the commission to also collaborate with Oyo State in all possible ways. Very soon you will see more come out of that very important meeting but for now, let’s keep working,” Ajani stated.
Meanwhile, Ajani told journalists that the Energy Commission DG, Eli Jidere Bala, has assured that whatever any government wants to achieve required energy and with Governor Makinde being an energy person, the commission would do everything possible to support the state.
According to him, the Director-General also affirmed that the energy commission had been a friend of Oyo State as the commission had been doing a lot in the state such as mini grids, constituency projects of most of the National Assembly members from Oyo State in Lagelu, Iyana Offa etc.
He, however, admonished Hon Wale Ajani to synergise more with the National Assembly members from Oyo State to harness more sustainable energy projects in their subsequent constituency projects in order to benefit more from the commission.
Ajani also disclosed that the DG, Energy Commission Director-General afterwards, summoned the Procurement Director and Director of Budget Monitoring and Evaluation to give every needed support to Oyo State in any ongoing and subsequent sustainable energy projects of the commission.
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