TO boost entrepreneurship, the federal government has commissioned a 20 Kilowatts solar-based station in Wuse market, Abuja. The station is expected to provide uninterrupted power for hair dressing equipment and similar small-scale businesses in the federal capital’s major market.

   Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, who performed the commissioning ceremony at the weekend, said the project would provide electric power through solar panels for hair driers, fans, clippers and ovens often in use by various customers that throng the market daily for hairdo. He explained that the project would also provide electricity to some grocery shops around, assuring that the project would be replicated in other markets across the country. 

   The minister said the primary focus of the project was to discourage the use of petrol and diesel-powered generators that could emit poisonous gases when attending to customers, adding that the project would empower market women and youths operating in the Wuse Market.

   “The leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan has directed us to vigorously pursue the dream that no community should be left in darkness. This has informed the initiative and others like Operation Light-up Rural Nigeria,” he noted.

   The Minister of State, Mohammed Wakil, said the project was in line with global trends, as “everyone is conscious of green energy now than ever before.”

   He assured that with the renewed interest in solar and other renewable energy sources, epileptic power would soon be a thing of the past in the country.

   Speaking on behalf of the end-users of the facility, Raphael Okorie assured the ministers that the facility would be well protected and put to proper use.