Power, energy Nigeria needs for economic growth, industrial development—- Adelabu

Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu has described the Power Sector as the energy Nigeria needs for economic growth and Industrial development.

The Minister spoke at the weekend while addressing a delegation of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) led by the President, Engineer  Tasiu Sa’ad Gidari-Wudil, to the Ministry.

The Minister who emphasized the need to give the power sector appropriate focus and attention, said there is no transformed economy throughout the world that did not put power as  priority.

He stated that one of the major crises Nigeria experiences is not being able to produce what is consumed thereby being dependent on other parts of the world as a consuming economy.

“A large percentage of what we consume as a nation is imported and any country desirous of transformation should eschew such scenario“.

While charging the NSE to throw its weight in the power sector in order to achieve its desired goal, the Minister said that one of the major challenges the country has in moving forward stems from the inability to synergize.

“Nigeria needs abundance of power supply and the challenge doesn’t lie on any other institution other than the Nigerian Society of Engineers”, Adelabu said .

He stated that factors like leadership, commitment, focus, passion, are instrumental to achieving the desired success in the power sector, while gaps in mobility, infrastructure, inability to build roads and proper railways despite funding from developmental partners remain challenging.

Speaking further, the Minister said that as part of Mr. President’s committed  plan of changing the lives of Nigerians, implementation of the local content in government contracts has become imperative.

“As a protagonist of local content, there must be recognition of the local meter manufacturers in Nigeria to encourage development and sustainability”.

He revealed that the consumers are the revenue determinants thus transmission and distribution capacity should be in excess as power generated and does not get to the doorstep of the consumers is a fruitless effort.

“Nigeria is a nation with population of over 220million, generating only 4000 megawatt, this calls for adequate collaboration as new confidence is being reposed on this new administration for sustainable and adequate power supply.

“There have been series of Bilateral Stakeholders consultations prior to a planned town hall meeting of all stakeholders which the NSE will be majorly involved”, he explained.

Earlier, the President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Engineer Gidari-Wudil said that the Society will put all expertise and operational arsenal at its disposal to help the Ministry achieve its Mandate.

Gidari-Wudil who enumerated recent development in the Society expressed that the core mandate of NSE isto make meaningful contributions to the development and advancement of technology through collaborationand linkages.

He said that  the quest for expanding the views and vision of the society across the international boundaries, with the view of harnessing vital international resources, knowledge sharing and transfer, led to  the council of NSE approval of  five international diaspora branches of the Society  in Houston, London, Manchester, Glasgow  and the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia.

“ The incoming President of the World Society of Engineer is a top member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers”, he added.

Outlining some critical expectations of the organization, he said that  Power is the bedrock of manufacturing and for Nigeria to survive as a country, there is need to support local manufacturers otherwise Nigeria will continue to be a consumer nation.

“Part of this administration’s mandate is for us to be more of a producing nation”, he said.