The Group Managing Director, Sahara Power Group, Dr Kola Adesina has said the federal government’s procurement of its ten power plants under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) lacked proper evaluation.
Adesina stated this yesterday, stressing that the federal government was much focused on improving the country’s power generation without putting in place the infrastructures to set the plants working.
The GMD who was the guest speaker at the 6th public lecture, themed: “The Nigerian Power Industry; Past, Present and the Future” organised by the University of Lagos (UNILAG) faculty of Engineering Alumni to mark the 60th anniversary of the faculty, decried the lack of proper evaluation in the country’s power sector.
“We did not consider every minute detail before the procurement of ten power plants. So, of course, we now had issues where politics came in to becloud the entire thing.
“Within the value of electricity, generating plants are used without transmission and where are you taking the power to? The low centres in terms of the quality and quantity of power required by the buyers of the power, such evaluations with due respect were not done so deeply and when those things were done, sadly, we jettisoned all those reports that captured all that needed to be done.
He advised the federal government to subsidise the electricity tariff for industries, saying it would reduce the cost of production and improve the country’s economy.
“As of today, we have Band A, B, C, D and E. The electricity tariff for industry should be lower than that of residential consumers because without industrialization, there is not going to be employment and without employment, there won’t be productivity and without productivity, there can’t be prosperity.
“So, if we want to truly prosper, the engine of growth is where the government should be subsidising. If the government is subsidising production, such that the importation that is coming to Nigeria are machines and equipment to turn our raw material to finished goods, Nigeria will start to turn the right corner,” he added.
The Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in his remark, acknowledged the role of the educational sector in proffering solutions to national development, urging the state’s commissioners to provide space for students’ internship to gain practical knowledge.
“Let’s offer our students in the Faculty of Engineering and make it available for them to have onsite experience because those are the kind of things that will help develop their skills into the future,” he said.
