10 Communities in Kumbungu get electricity
Ten more communities in the Kumbungu District of the Northern Region have benefited from the government's Rural Electrification Project (REP).
This brings the total number of communities connected to the national grid in the district to 24 out of 57, this year.
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The beneficiary communities are Gupanarigu, Dimanzugu, Buntansi, Nyoring, Gbulun, Bihinaayili, Binbiagubiayili, Tiring, Vogu, Gundaa, Gundobila and Dalun Biihinaayili.
The project, which was funded by the government, is aimed at enhancing the economic and social lives of the people.
Inauguration
The District Chief Executive (DCE) of Kumbungu, Mr Abdul Salam Hamza Fataw, who inaugurated the electrification projects last Thursday, said the district assembly would ensure that every community in the district which had no electricity was connected to the national grid by 2020.
"We are determined to achieve universal electricity coverage in the district by 2020 to enhance the economic and social lives of the people," he said.
Mr Fataw, who is also the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the Kumbungu constituency for the 2020 general election, said the project was also to open up the entire district for the establishment of cottage industries and promote commercial activities in the area.
He said before the electrification project, the assembly had embarked on an exercise to sensitise residents of the beneficiary communities to the need to pay their electricity bills promptly to avoid being plunged into darkness again.
Aside from sensitising the people to the need to pay their bills promptly, the DCE for Kumbungu said they also engaged the people on the need to use power judiciously.
Electrification project
Mr Fataw said the rapid work on connecting the communities to electricity came as a result of persistent appeals from the various communities to get them connected to the national grid.
He said most of the communities had been without electricity since 1992 and that had affected them in terms of development, their livelihood and advancement since they could not use technology.
He added that the incidence of women and community members walking long distances to charge their phones and also grind their cereals for food would come to an end and students who used to learn with lanterns would now have lights to learn and this would boost their performance in school.
Mr Fatawu said the practice of some community hospitals going to other villages to store their medicines in cold conditions because of the absence of electricity would also come to an end to ensure good health delivery services.
The Chief of Gupanarigu, Yakubu Yissif II, on behalf of all the beneficiary communities, expressed his gratitude to the government and the assembly for the electrification project which, he said, would go a long way to improve on their conditions of living.
Women and children in the various beneficiary communities could not hide their joy and excitement as they sang and danced to signify their appreciation.