By: John Bassey.
The Managing Director of Kaduna Electric Distribution Company (KEDCO), Dr Umar Abubakar-Hashidu has assured electricity consumers in Kebbi State that normal power supply to the area would soon be restored by weekend.
He gave the assurance while interacting with Journalists in Government House, Birnin Kebbi on Wednesday.
The MD attributed the current epileptic power supply to destruction of three towers on 330 KV line from Kanji to Birnin to Niger Republic.
He, however, said that work on the affected towers had reached advance stage, assuring that engineers alongside other technical personnel have gone far in fixing the problem.
“Measures is being taken by Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited and KEDCO to ensure that power is restored to affected areas” he assured.
Giving the background of the power outage in the state, Abubakar-Hashidu recalled that about three weeks ago there was collapse of three towers on the 330 KV Birnin Kebbi transmission line.
“That means bulk power cannot be sent from Kanji to Birnin Kebbi, this affects power supply not only to Birnin Kebbi and Sokoto but also to Niger Republic and other neighbouring countries.
“The 330 KV line is manned and operated by TCN, they supply bulk power to us for onward distribution to our customers.
“Upon that happening, a decision was taken to back feed Sokoto, Kebbi and Talatan Mafara through the 132 KV through Zaria-Funtua coming up to Talatan Mafara, Sokoto down to Kebbi,” he said.
The MD, however, confirmed that the voltage was very very low due to the distance from Kebbi to Zaria, adding that Zaria was being fed from Enugu through Benue to Jos to Zaria.
“I am happy to give the good news that by this weekend the 330 KV line will be back, energy and bulk power will be restored to Birnin Kebbi, Argungu and Yauri.
“All the four transmission stations within this axis that are power dedicated to KV line will have power and all these issues of low voltage will be over,” Abubakar-Hashidu assured.
