Date Published: 08/03/09

The Ibom Power Plant should not be politicized

It is the masses that are suffering. It will not be a bad advice if one should urge Governor Akpabio to run the transmission line of the Ikot Abasi IPP, which was believed almost fully completed before his assumption of office. The governor once mentioned in the media that by October 2008, Akwa Ibom would be with uninterrupted power supply since our need is only about 60MW out of the 184MW that would be generated at the readied Independent Power Plant. The rest would be sold through the national grid with more money generated to Akwa Ibom State.

If I were the governor, the completion of the transmission line would fetch him more kudos than knocks because many people now see the delay as politically motivated. There is no doubt, the Attah administration completed to near finality without the transmission line and since governance is continuum it would have been to Akpabio’s credit if he completed it before now; we would have been enjoying steady electricity before Kwara State of today. The completion would put the small artisans back to work thereby reducing the crime rate.

One will continue to hammer on this IPP until we get the required action on this main economy motivator that our State supposed to have witnessed long before now. The project should not be politicking because it is the masses that are suffering.

Kingsley Ikpe Udoh, Goldie Street, Calabar.