The monarch of Arochukwu Kingdom, His Eminence Eze Dr Eberechukwu Oji, has announced plans to overwhelm the length and breadth of Arochukwu town with solar electricity.
Eze Aro stated this at the Edition 2 of Ububo Eze Aro n’Umu Aro, which was held on Sunday, September 1, 2024. Ububo Eze Aro n’Umu Aro is a global interactive meeting of all Aro on Zoom platforms. The Sunday meeting was attended by over 375 persons from different cities, countries, and continents across the world.
The monarch, while responding to a question about the challenges of electricity in the community from Mazi Patrick Asonye who logged in from Lagos, said that while he and his cabinet are making efforts to get the support of the govenremet for steady power supply in the community, the Light-Up Aro Project which would be officially launched during the Ikeji festival, would focus strictly on solar street lighting intended to flood the 19 villages of the town with electricity.
His words – “Yes, electricity is very important. During the coronation, our brother, the governor, gave us about 3 or 4 transformers, which were connected in different villages. But the source of the electricity is the main problem. There are those working with the power distribution companies, and Nzuko Arochukwu is having talks with them to see if there would be an end to this lingering electricity problem. There was a power substation in Aro in the past. It currently does not work anymore, so we are having discussion with the leadership of the state to see if there is anything that could be done to revive it, so that Aro can begin having steady electricity.
“We are already on the matter of electricity. Right now, electricity for security and lights is basically what we are working on right now.” “During the Ikeji, we are launching a program called ‘Light up Aro’. We want to ensure that every nook and cranny of Aro is abundantly lit. With it, we intend to eliminate crime and robbery. It is wrong to see when our brothers complete their houses and travel, robbers would go there and break in to steal. It’s the darkness that gives them cover to steal the way they do. If there’s light in the night, they won’t have it easy to rob.
“Those involved in buying and selling will also benefit greatly by selling into the night. We will launch that program during Ikeji, and our target is to get between 2000 and 3000 solar lights. Already, we have planted 480 of these lights across the community, and we want to increase it so that Aro will be abundantly lighted.
“Electricity is of capital importance, and we won’t joke with it. For this reason, we want to put in all we can to achieve our goals in this area.
“If we have that, what it means is that we now have the basic infrastructure to even add CCTV cameras to enable us to enhance security across the length and breath of Aro,” he stated.
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