The House of Representatives has urged the Ministry of Power to work towards completing the installation of 333KVA Line in Onne, Rivers and Bayelsa.
This was sequel to the adoption of a motion by Rep. Awaji-Inombek Abiante (PDP-Rivers) and 17 others at plenary on Wednesday.
Moving the motion, Abiante said that Rivers was the sixth most populated state in Nigeria with a population of 7.3 million people. (NBS, 2016).
“Rivers is economically significant as the centre of Nigeria’s oil industry similarly, Bayelsa with population of 2.2 million people is the fourth largest producer of crude oil in the country,” he said.
“Therefore, Nigeria’s prosperity in terms of GDP and foreign exchange earnings cannot be well-articulated without mentioning the significant contributions of Rivers and Bayelsa.
“In 2020, Rivers was reported to have the third highest unemployment rate in Nigeria put at 43.7 per cent, while 27.8 per cent of the labour force in Bayelsa was unemployed.
“The structure of the Nigerian economy is typical of an underdeveloped country with only one sector accounting for about 95 per cent of export earnings and about 85 per cent of government revenue between 2011 and 2012.
“Nigeria’s industrial sector in the same period however, accounted for a paltry 6 per cent of economic activities, while the manufacturing sector contributed only 4 per cent to the GDP,” he said.
Abiante said that in spite of the amount of resources in Rivers and Bayelsa, the 333KVA Line which should be a catalyst for industry and manufacture has not been considered.
According to him, to the extent that the 333KVA Line infrastructure proposed for Onne, Rivers has since been abandoned while the installation of 333KVA Line in Bayelsa is yet to commence.
In his ruling, Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase mandated the House Committees on Power and Legislative Compliance to ensure compliance. (NAN)
