TCN urged to employ indigenes for Akurba substation

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) should employ indigenes of Nasarawa State to man the new power substation in Akurba Town, Lafia.

Governor Abdullahi Sule made the appeal while inspecting ongoing work on the site of the project, on Wednesday.

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“This will solve the problems of accommodation and transportation as these employees will be coming to work from home,” Sule said.

The Akurba power substation, which is presently at 95 percent completion, is expected to come on board a few months from now and when fully operational, it will solve the prolonged power problem not only in Lafia but other parts of the state.

The General Manager of the Nasarawa State Electricity Power Agency (NaEPA), Engr. Abubakar Danjuma Ango, said the provision of stable power supply would provide huge investment opportunities, leading to the establishment of small, medium, and large scale industries which would lead to growth and development.

Meanwhile the Nasarawa State House of Assembly (NSHA) is set to assess the N62.96 billion budget performance of the 2020 fiscal year today, ahead of the 2021 budget presentation by Gov. Sule.

Hon Ibrahim Balarabe Abdullahi, the Speaker of the House during the House proceedings said the assessment will be done before the governor presents the 2021 budget to the House.

“We are commencing oversight function to MDAs on Thursday, 15th October, 2020, as His Excellency, Gov. Abdullahi Sule will present the 2021 budget to the House very soon.

“Commencing the oversight function to MDAs will help us to assess the 2020 budget performance of the state as the oversight function is key to legislative duties.”

The state appropriated N108.4bn for 2020 which was later cut to N62.96bn due to the pandemic. N31.9bn is for recurrent expenditure; N26.5bn is for capital expenditure; while the consolidated Revenue Fund charge is N4.6bn.