Makes for Experts to Lead Process
Admin I March 9, 2015
LAGOS, Nigeria – The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola on Sunday challenged the Federal Government to open up the power sector and allow experts who know what they are doing to lead the process.
Fashola who was speaking at an occasion to hand over the 8.5 megawatts Peninsula Integrated Power Project(PIPP) said it is possible to have stable power supply in Nigeria if experts who know what they are doing are allowed to lead the process.
The Peninsula power project is the fifth after Akute IPP, Mainland IPP, Lagos Island and Alausa IPP. He said the Lagos State Government commenced the development of IPP in 2011 in other to demonstrate that Lagos State can generate power.
The governor explained that the first thing he did after the Power Reforms were completed was to write the Federal Government, seeking concession to deliver power to some government estates like Abraham Adesanya Housing Estate, Magodo GRA and Ogudu which had received transformers from Lagos State.
“That was in January or February 2011, I am still waiting for them”, he said. Fashola said that he had vowed to deliver power into those estates in 9 months if he had the power to do so.
The governor also said that today he has taken Government House Marina, the Lagos State Secretariat from the national grid and dared the Federal Government to take Federal Secretariat from the national grid.
“The Government House, Marina has been taken off the public grid and power has not failed. Let them take the Federal Secretariat from the public grid”, he said.
He said the PIPP was initiated in partnership with Heritage Bank to serve Lagos State public water corporations in Lekki Phase 1, Oniru, Victoria Island and Ikoyi, as well as over 25km of public lightening in the Lekki axis.
Fashola said the project showed that the money needed to improve Nigeria’s economy is in the country.
“So, let no one say that he has no money to deliver power for the entire country. This is the limit to which the law allows us to do, but we have done this to make a statement that power can be generated. So, when they come with lies that power is impossible, you can tell them that we have power here; we make it possible.
“Let the EKO DISCOs sign a contract with me, giving part of their concessioning to the state government, in about six to eight months, there will be power in all homes in Lagos state,” Fashola said.
In her address General Manager, Lagos State Electricity Board, Damilola Ogunbiyi, said the state had shown that reliable and sustainable power projects are possible through the youths.
She said though it had been a successful story, the state was just scratching the surface in its “aggressive development plan” in the area of power.
Commissioner, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Engr. Taofeek Tijani said the new addition was about continuity in public infrastructure programme of the state government.
The Promoter of the project, Faruk Agoro noted that the new IPP was an innovative idea of world-class natural gas-fired power generating facility, sold to the government by youths and it was bought into, to support government institutions, especially in the area of water supply and security.
He said the stage one is 8.5 megawatts, with the capacity for 30 megawatts.
Lagos IPPs now has a total of 47 megawatts of electricity in total, powering public institutions around the state. The generated megawatts is however a tiny drop in the over 9,000 megawatts power deficit in the state.
