Six Years in A'Ibom Power Sector: Engr Etukudo Recounts Achievements

The Managing Director of Ibom Power Company Limited, Engr. Meyen Etukudo, yesterday, marked his sixth year at the helm of Akwa Ibom State’s Power Sector as the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Udom Emmanuel on Power.

Engr. Etukudo, who was the Assistant General Manager, AGM-Lines, at the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, before joining Akwa Ibom State Government on secondment, said that his most laudable achievement in the last six years is that all the engineers in his office have been trained and can install transformers.

He said engineers require constant exposure to training to make them better professionals stating that he attended training at home and abroad in his over three decades of work experience with the defunct National Electric Power Authority, NEPA, TCN, and the National Integrated Power Projects, NIPP.

Engr. Etukudo, a Fellow of six professional engineering bodies, said he would have had regrets if he did not relocate to Akwa Ibom State.

“I was posted to other parts of Nigeria in the course of work, but I did not work in Uyo, so when the opportunity came, I didn’t recognize it. Honestly speaking, if I didn’t come to Akwa Ibom, I would have regretted it because in my 32 years with NEPA, I was not here”.

He said at the time he was called to join Akwa Ibom State Government, he was handling a project of the West African Power Pool, WAPP, an association of public and private power entities that covers about 14 African countries.

He, however, expressed gratitude to God and to the staff of the power sector, who he said have been very supportive towards fulfilling the mission and vision of the power sector in Akwa Ibom State.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that out of the 450 transformers distributed to the 2,274 gazetted villages in Akwa Ibom State, the Power Sector office has installed 186 transformers representing about 41% of the total transformers installed so far by Governor Udom Emmanuel's administration.

Akwa Ibom State’s Ministry of Rural Development has, reportedly, installed 214 transformers, while Inter-Ministerial has installed 50 transformers.

The Engr. Etukudo led Power Sector also spearheaded the construction and completion of the 33/11KV, 2 X 15MVA injection substation at Edet Akpan Avenue and 132/33KV, 2 x 60MVA transmission substation at Ekim.

The Governor’s aide had stated in the past that the government’s installation of transformers is a demonstration of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s commitment to the provision of a steady and quality power supply in Akwa Ibom state.