Vice President Kashim Shettima, on Thursday, assured investors in the country of the commitment of the Federal Government to ensure adequate power supply across the country, particularly in industrial areas.
The vice president gave this assurance at the Agbara Business Roundtable held at the OPIC Industrial Estate, Agbara, Ogun State, adding that the country holds tremendous opportunities for investors and citizens.
The event was to launch an initiative to ensure dedicated power supply to industrial clusters across the country, starting with the Agbara industrial estate.
Shettima, who was accompanied by the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun and Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by his deputy, Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, said it was embarrassing that the Agbara cluster relied on other sources of power aside from the national grid.
He, however, assured that the Federal Government, through the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), was committed to ensuring that the clusters like Agbara benefitted from a cheaper means of generating power in their various factories.
The vice president further assured that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was committed to making power available to the entire country, noting that “it is all about advocacy, it is about people believing in you, and I have the confidence of my boss, such that I can talk authoritatively.”
“He is very passionate about the Nigerian project. He is very committed to repositioning this nation,” he said.
In his remarks at the event, Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, sadly noted that out of about 13,000 Megawatts available, the country could only transmit 4,000 Megawatts.
According to Governor Sanwo-Olu, the issue of power in the country is complex, owing to the attitude and behaviour among all stakeholders in the country, stressing that the country had the expertise in all fields that can leapfrog the nation’s development but needed to eliminate bad behaviours which were inimical to development.
Speaking further, the Governor urged Nigerians to desist from demeaning the country’s institutions, saying that all those bad commentaries were giving wrong perceptions about the country and would continue to scare away prospective investors.
“The biggest challenge in our country now is public commentaries. We have a lot of people that go out there just to say things, demeaning our institutions, and that is the biggest challenge,” he said.
Ogun State Governor Prince Dapo Abiodun, in his own remark, noted that electricity was fundamental to the sustenance of the country’s socio-economic activities and variability, adding that proper provision of power was key to ensuring the sustainability of competitive industrialization.
“One thing that is very fundamental to the sustenance of our socio-economic activities or variability is the provision of electricity, without which all the infrastructures we have to provide will all be in vain,” the governor said.
Speaking further, Abiodun said his administration was committed to creating an enabling environment for Public Private Partnership, which is the key to the state’s economic growth and its people’s individual prosperity.
While highlighting some of his government achievements in office, the governor stressed that the state had five other clusters aside from the Agbara Cluster.
According to him, they include The Remo Cluster and the Ijebu Ode Cluster, saying that the state was creating a new Cluster called the Magoro Cluster, among other clusters, “because it is through these clusters that the state can jump-start growth and development.”
“Creating an enabling environment is beyond providing needed infrastructures. These clusters seem to provide land, provide the need for infrastructures, and these are track industrial activities and without stable, reliable and clean powers, all these initiatives will be in vain,” he said.
Also speaking, Minister of Power, Mr Bayo Adelabu, disclosed that the event marked a pivotal effort in the collective endeavour of the country’s Industrial landscape.
He added that the project stands as the first of many projects in the government light-up initiatives to deliver reliable electricity to industrial and heavy user clusters across the country.
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