The Nigerian Army voice concerns regarding the insufficient power supply at Lagos’ Ikeja Military Cantonment.
This is in light of the N12.7 billion that the federal government set aside for the mass metering initiative across all Army formations.
Adebayo Adelabu, the Minister of Power, gave a speech at the weekend’s flag-off of the metering exercise at the 9th Brigade of the Nigerian Army’s headquarters, the Ikeja Military Cantonment.
In a statement made available to reporters on Sunday, Adelabu stated that “the sum of N12.7 billion has been released out of a total of N40bn for the mass metering project for the current exercise.” Bolaji Tunji, his media assistant, provided the statement.
Mass metering, according to the minister, “will enable us to know what is being consumed on a monthly basis in order to ensure appropriate billings and ease collections” in Army installations around the country.
He stated that the ultimate goal was to do away with it and render estimated billing obsolete.
According to Adelabu, the current exercise will continue for six weeks, following which the second phase will start.
Upon meeting with the Commander, Major General A.M. Adetuyi, and the CEO of De Haryor Global Services, Ashade Olatunbosun, who oversees the metering project, at Army headquarters, the minister explained that the current exercise is a component of President Bola Tinubu’s plan to guarantee a consistent supply of electricity to Army formations across the country.
“This is one of Mr President’s objectives, as contained in the Renewed Hope Agenda, to ensure that electricity supply to the armed forces is prioritised and they do not suffer, especially in the enjoyment of public utilities,” he said.
Adelabu pointed out that since the smart meters being put cannot be compromised, energy theft would be eradicated and they are tamper-proof.
He went on to say that the metre enables communication between off-grid and grid-connected solar power sources.
Constructing off-grid power sources, such as solar energy, for military barracks in isolated locations without grid supplies is a part of the nation’s energy program, the minister had stated “where we have grid supply, we can interchange between the grid and solar supply if we are not satisfied with the number of hours supplied by the distribution companies.”
Speaking, Olatunbosun stated that the project’s second phase will start concurrently in Abuja and Enugu and that military formations from all 11 DisCos would gain from the exercise.
“Army formations under Jos, Abuja, Ibadan, Enugu, Kaduna, Ikeja, and Eko distribution companies will benefit from the exercise,” Olatunbosun said.
Major General Adetuyi had already stated that the brigade headquarters had been experiencing “epileptic power supply” over time, making the Federal Government’s metering program appropriate.
He said, “When I investigated, I found out that we were only being given three hours of electricity daily, and on some days, we do not even get supply. We have tried to resolve this; we have even involved the state government without any result.
“We also discovered that we were always being given estimated bills, though we would not have minded if power supply had been regular. However, this commendable metering project has gladdened our hearts.”
