The House of Representatives on Wednesday urged the federal government to intervene and prevail on the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to restore electricity to Ife South local government area of Osun State which was disconnected over 10 years ago.
This followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by the member representing Ife Central, Ife North, Ife South and Ife East federal constituency, of Osun State Rep.Taofeek Ajilesoro Abimbola on the need to restore electricity supply to the local government area which was disconnected over the claimed of BEDC that Ife South was owing it N50 million.
The House mandated the Committee on Power to interface with the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) on the disconnection of electricity in the Area for 10 years.
The House also to investigate the outrageous Bill of over N50 million allegedly owed to the company and report back in 4 weeks.
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According to him, the local government which has its headquarters in Ifetedo and has 15 major towns and over 50 villages had been disconnected from the national grid for over 10 years.
The lawmaker while presenting his motion said the continued blackout in Ife South had brought untold hardship on the people area and pleaded with the lawmakers to intervene urgently.
According to him, “it has paralysed all forms of business activities, many public and private organisations which cannot afford running generators all through those have been forced out of business and the lengthy power outage has also damaged most of those transformers in the communities thus requiring that new transformers would be installed before electricity could be restored”.
The lawmaker, therefore, called on the Federal Ministry of Power to conduct a comprehensive inspection and evaluation on the communities affected to ascertain the level of damages on the transformers and rehabilitate them.
When it was put into voice mail, it was unanimously supported by the lawmakers.
and then