Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, on Monday, flagged off the Renewed Hope Light Up Project in Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State, targeting 42,000 households across the 13 electoral wards of the constituency with solar light.
He also distributed 26 power transformers to the Wards to connect communities to the national grid of electricity.
Commissioning the solar lights, which marked the second phase of the project, the Deputy Speaker who represents the constituency at the National Assembly described access to power as the pressing need of the people uncovered during a constituency-wide needs assessment.
He said: “In representation, one of the key expectations of the office of a representative is to do needs analysis, and in the course of doing needs analysis, we discovered that one of our greatest problems in this federal constituency is darkness, lack of access to power and that has affected our economic life, the security life of the community, the human capacity development and job creation, all of which fall under the proposition of the Renewed Hope Agenda, the eight agenda of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who from the start intended to improve the economic life of our nation, starting from the communities; create more jobs; improve the security of our communities, human capacity development, agriculture and food security and the list goes on”
The Deputy Speaker said the project has two components, connecting communities to the national grid through the transformer distribution and providing alternative energy through solar for all homes in the constituency.
He said the intervention aligns with the eight-point Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which seeks to improve the economic life of Nigerians starting from the communities.
“What we are doing today has a multiple effect, a ripple effect that trickles down to different aspects of this Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President. Today, we stand as the partners of the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President. We call ourselves Renewed Hope Partners. We are members of APC, Bende constituents who believe in the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and his agenda to improve the lives of the people of Nigeria starting from Bende federal constituency.
“What we are here to do is to drive that vision home, by making it a mission that our people can feel, touch and experience. Light before now to many homes in Bende seemed to be luxury. That has been demystified”, he said.
The Deputy Speaker further disclosed that he received approval of the plan from President Tinubu when he presented the figure of 42,000 households with a request to ensure children can read at night without kerosene lanterns and families can power their fans and charge phones.
He expressed profound gratitude to the President for his interventions in Bende in particular and in entire South East in general, noting that the Light Up Project is aimed at making its impact felt directly by rural households in Bende.
“Let me thank the President for initiating Renewed Hope Agenda which has been the roadmap towards the achievements we have made in the last few years.
“There is nothing we are doing in Bende, in Igboland as members of this government that has not been approved by the President. He is a President that loves the south Easterners and he is making sure that most of the landmark initiatives commence from this area of the country. Today, we are saying bye bye to darkness in Bende Federal Constituency”, Kalu said.
Explaining that the rollout is in batches of 10,000 households, Kalu said 1,000 solar units have already been distributed to beneficiaries from all electoral wards in the constituency who were present at the ceremony to testify.
He said each solar unit will serve for 10 years, revealing that it comes with a maintenance agreement.
“The people who are handling this have said that this particular solar will serve our people for 10 good years which means you are not going to look for kerosene to power your lanterns in 10 good years, where to charge your phone, power fan. The arrangement we have made with them is that if anything goes bad, we will invite them to come back and fix it as far as you didn’t break it”, he said.
The Deputy Speaker also assured that the first 10,000 of the solar lights distributed on Monday will be completed in the next two weeks before the next batch begins.
“In the next two weeks, I am sure this 10,000 will be done with and another 10,000 will come in and that is how we will follow it until we finish”, he said.
To ensure accountability and prevent diversion of the solar lights, Kalu said all installations are geo-located and programmed through an app, adding that it is the first time 42,000 homes in a single federal constituency will receive solar power in Nigeria.
“All the installations will be geo-located through the App. Let me warn. Don’t take your own meant for Item to Ozuitem, it will not work. They are all programmed. This is the first of its kind in the Federal Republic of Nigeria that 42,000 homes will receive light in a federal constituency”, he said.
Also distributing the brand new transformers, Kalu explained that each of the 13 Wards in Bende will receive two transformers to gain access to the national grid and help boost their small scale and medium enterprises.
“Just like we promised that the light in Bende is in two phases, we have the one for national grid and then, we have places that have not experienced the effect of national grid. Based on that, we requested for alternative source of energy that is environmentally friendly and we chose solar. But we also know that while solar handles the home, the small and medium scale enterprises across Bende need support to power fridges, welding machines, small scale industries, you need a transformer to pick up power from the national grid. So, we have made provisions for all the Wards. Every Ward in Bende Federal Constituency wil receive two transformers.
“The decision on where they will be located will not be based on sentiment and will not be political. It will be needs- influenced decision. It will be decision based on lack of access to electricity. Thereafter, all parts will follow. So, my advise to the leaders when you go back is that these should not be packed in anybody’s home. They should be placed around the place it will be easier to be hooked to the national grid to be begin to serve greater number of the people.
“We must choose a location where wider number of our constituents will enjoy access to electricity. We are doing all this because of the ripple effect power brings. If you see us distributing solar fans, it is to prevent the heat waves so that Bende people will not be badly impacted by the heat wave that is coming from the global warming. We also believe that these transformers will add values that will protect us from global warming.
“I want to thank Bende people for sending me to Abuja. I want to thank them for making that decision. The decision is what is fetching what is happening here today and many more that we have done as well as much more that we will do in the coming days.
“Secure these transformers when it gets to your place. It will be economic sabotage if you tamper with them. They should be protected by the youths, the Presidents-General and the traditional rulers because it is meant to serve Bende communities and everyone in Bende both those in APC and those not in APC. These transformers do not know the colour of political parties. It will serve everyone that I am representing”, Kalu said.
The Deputy Speaker also signed a N100 million contract with the Electricity company that installed the transformers for the restoration of light to Item and Alayi Wards, which have been disconnected for years.
Some constituents representing the 13 Electoral Wards and the Presidents-General of different town unions who testified to the effective representation of the Deputy Speaker at the commissioning pledged to vote massively for both President Tinubu and Kalu in the 2027 general elections to continue their people-oriented projects.