The Nigerian Army has expressed concern about the inadequate power supply in the Ikeja Military Cantonment, Lagos.

This is as the Federal Government allocated N12.7bn for the mass metering project in all Army formations.

Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, spoke during the flag-off of the metering exercise at the headquarters of the 9th Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Ikeja Military Cantonment, at the weekend.

According to a statement made available to The PUNCH on Sunday by his media aide, Bolaji Tunji, Adelabu explained that “for the current exercise, the sum of N12.7 billion has been released out of a total of N40bn for the mass metering project.”

The minister had stated that the mass metering in Army formations nationwide “will enable us to know what is being consumed on a monthly basis in order to ensure appropriate billings and ease collections.”

The overall intention, he said, was to eliminate it and make estimated billing a thing of the past.

Adelabu stated that the current exercise will last for six weeks, after which the second phase would commence.

The minister, who was received at the Army headquarters by the Commander, Major General A.M Adetuyi, and the Chief Executive Officer of De Haryor Global Services, Ashade Olatunbosun, who is in charge of the metering project, said the current exercise is part of President Bola Tinubu’s agenda to ensure regular supply of electricity to Army formations nationwide.

“This is one of Mr President’s objectives, as contained in the Renewed Hope Agenda, to ensure that electricity supply to the armed forces is prioritised and they do not suffer, especially in the enjoyment of public utilities,” he said.

Adelabu noted that the smart metres being installed are tamper-proof and would eliminate energy theft because they cannot be by-passed..

He revealed further that the metre allows interconnectivity between grid and off-grid solar power supply.

The minister had said that part of the energy blueprint for the country is to build off-grid power sources such as solar energy for military barracks located in remote areas without grid supply, saying “where we have grid supply, we can interchange between the grid and solar supply if we are not satisfied with the number of hours supplied by the distribution companies.”

Speaking, Olatunbosun said the second phase of the project will begin in Abuja and Enugu simultaneously, adding that military formations across the 11 DisCos will benefit from the exercise.

“Army formations under Jos, Abuja, Ibadan, Enugu, Kaduna, Ikeja, and Eko distribution companies will benefit from the exercise,” Olatunbosun said.

Earlier, Major General Adetuyi said the Federal Government’s metering initiative was timely as the brigade headquarters had been having “epileptic power supply” over time.

He said, “When I investigated, I found out that we were only being given three hours of electricity daily, and on some days, we do not even get supply. We have tried to resolve this; we have even involved the state government without any result.

“We also discovered that we were always being given estimated bills, though we would not have minded if power supply had been regular. However, this commendable metering project has gladdened our hearts.”