TheCable

Abubakar Aliyu, minister of power, says the federal government is working with state governors to address the issues affecting right of way (RoW), in order to speed up power projects in the country.

Aliyu said this on Tuesday while receiving the management of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (DisCo) that paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.

In January 2020, TheCable had reported that 14 states hiked RoW charges.

The RoW charge is the levy paid to state governments for laying of optic fibre on state roads.

Speaking on how RoW affects power projects, the minister said the government is taking inventory of all the RoW challenges nationwide in order to discuss with state governors on possible resolutions.

The minister also commended the Eko DisCo for its efforts in terms of performance, and urged other electricity distribution companies to follow their example.

He also challenged Eko DisCo to do more in the area of customer care and confidence.

Speaking on the efforts of the present administration, Aliyu said the federal government is doing its best to provide an enabling environment for all segments of the electricity value chain to perform at optimum level.

He also said there are currently over 100 ongoing projects by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) focused on addressing power theft and ensuring grid stability.

On his part, Dere Otubu, chairman of Eko DisCo, said the visit was to commend the minister on his efforts and encourage him to do more to improve power supply in Nigeria.

Otubu also solicited the support of the minister for increased power capacity for Eko DisCo.

The chairman, who was accompanied by Fadeyibi Adeoye, managing director of Eko DisCo, said the company remains committed to providing better services to its customers and partnering with the federal government on rural electrification.