Security has been beefed up in various parts of Aba, the commercial nerve and its environs, including Umuahia, the state capital ahead of the planned visit of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Abia State.
The Nation reports that the President’s visit to the State was postponed from Saturday, February 24 to February 26.
Though there has not been any official statement from the State Government on the visit, The Nation gathered that there has been series of crucial meeting with heads of various agencies and security agencies for successful visit of the President on Monday.
It was gathered that some identified black spots have been manned by the security agencies, especially within the Osisioma local government area and Aba metropolis to prevent break down of law and order.
The chairman, CEO of Geometric Power Limited, Prof. Barth Nnaji has assured the Aba Integrated Power project which would be commissioned by President Bola Tinubu foe supply of power to electricity users within the nine local government areas of Abia State under the Aba Ring Fenced Area.
He noted that the power plant would not only help in solving the power challenge of Aba but other parts of the country as the excess power would be pushed to the national grid for distribution to other parts.
Nnaji, who spoke in an interview at the Osisioma local government headquarters of the facility on Sunday, while disclosing that the management of the company has committed over $800m as part of their commitment towards ensuring that the power project was a reality said that the project was the largest investment of a private sector in the entire Southeast geopolitical region of the country.
According to Nnaji, who was a former Minister of Power, his company has a license to produce 188 megawatts of electricity, adding the three turbines from the General Electric (GE) in United States have been already installed and would be producing 47 Megawatts each.
The former Minister, who informed that a feasibility study carried out by the company has it that about needs about 100 Megawatts because of the heavy equipment used by industries in Aba and other local government areas within the ring fenced areas, stated that the power plant would help the industries in Aba to reduce their cost of production which he attributed to the high cost of goods manufactured in Aba.
Abia Commissioner for Power and Public Utilities, Engr. Ikechukwu Monday, who was at the briefing with the Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Mr. Ferdinand Ekeoma, while lamenting that the company and the State have suffered loss in the last 20 years that the process had lingered, said Governor Alex Otti was happy that the project has become a reality.
