Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Ogun during the 2019 general elections has expressed disappointment in the state government for not creating a parallel electricity system.
Adebutu stated this during the third edition of the Ladi Adebutu Good Governance Symposium , held in Ota on Tuesday.
Adebutu, the convener of the symposium, said that lack of electricity had brought a curse on Nigeria.
Adebutu called on the state government to embrace parallel generation, transmission facilities, distribution facilities in order to create a conducive environment for industries.
He noted that most industries were relocating from Ogun industrial hub due to lack of power supply and road infrastructure.
” The lack of electricity brings on us a curse. It brings on us the curse of expensive generators, this curse takes money out of every pocket in Nigeria. Even the perpetrators of this fully pay for it, we all pay for expensive diesel.
“The states are allowed and truly enabled to build parallel generating facilities, transmission facilities, distribution facilities. What the constitution says is ‘don’t carry electricity to another state’s. Why are we for God’s sake, ” he said.
He stressed that the state government should not wait for Federal transmission systems and Federal generating systems.
“We should create competition for them, let us allow investment from outside, let us allow competition for them from outside,” He said.
Earlier, The Executive Director for Research and Advocacy of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), Barrister Sunday Oduntan, has disclosed that Nigerians spent about N12 trillion on self power generation annually.
Oduntan also revealed that Nigerian homes and businesses produce 40,000 megawatts of electricity with diesel and petrol per annum.
He stated this while delivering a paper titled “Power for Sustainable Development in Ogun State.
Oduntan, who is also the official spokesperson for the DisCos, noted that self generation is propelled by lower power generation by the country, which requires 40,000MW to guarantee stable electricity.
He identified corruption, increased energy theft, regulatory inconsistency and confusion, liquidity crisis of the power sector, non – cost reflective tariff and limited power generation, as some of the challenges confronting the nation’s power sector.
Oduntan also lamented non-payment of debts by the Government’s Ministries, Department and Agencies with N203,819bn debts.
Oduntan added that “without resolving the issue of power, Nigeria will remain underdeveloped, with no major industrial or agricultural development.
“Many Artisans will remain Okada riders without stable electricity. For that to happen, the Political Leadership at the highest level must embrace the change mantra in the power sector by articulating and implementing clear cut programmes and policies that can put the nation first.
In their separate remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of Ikeja Electric Plc, Mrs Folake Soetan and a legal practitioner, Ehi Uwaifoh noted that stable power supply would boost industrialization drive of the state especially in Ota-Agbara industrial hub.
Uwaifoh particularly called on the state government to create a regulation that would allow it establish a mechanism for power generation and distribution in the state, to drive its industrial policy.
