By Thompson ABISOLA
The Head of Rivers State Civil Service Commission Mr Rufus Godwin, has said no fewer than 12,640 civil servants in Rivers will benefit from energy efficiency training.
Godwin launched the training in Port Harcourt on Tuesday for civil servants drawn from the state government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
He said the training, sponsored by the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED), was organised to educate workers on how to manage electricity in their homes and work places.
He said, “this programme offers civil servants a unique opportunity to learn how to manage their energy needs, in line with acceptable global practice.
“We are dismayed with the epileptic power supply in a country of about 180 million people that prides herself as giant of Africa.
“We must improve power because any country desirous of growing economically must improve its power supply, which is globally regarded as a tool for industrialisation.
“It is worrisome that we are still talking about 5,000 megawatts in Nigerian when other countries are celebrating years of uninterrupted power supply. We should wake from our slumber,” he said.
Godwin said the state government was distributing ‘free slots’ to all state-owned media houses to enable them reach out to electricity users in the state.
He commended PHED for organising the training and urged civil servants to avail themselves with the opportunity offered by the programme.
The Manager of Corporate Communications of PHED Mr John Onyi, , said the company introduced the programme in 2016 to expose customers to the use of energy saving appliances to save cost.
“We observed that many electricity users are in the habit of using incandescent bulbs of over 100 watts and above without checking the economic impact.
“The programme will make them understand gains of using energy saving appliances, light emitting diodes and LED of 10 watts that consume less,” he added.
Onyi said the company had organised the training in over 300 schools and 500 communities with about 10,000 corps members benefiting from the exercise in its four states of coverage.
