Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN on Wednesday formally commissioned the 8.8 Megawatts Mainland Independent Power Project, charging Nigerians not to accept any excuses for the inability of the government at the centre to provide stable electricity.
The Governor who spoke at the State Electricity Board, Old Secretariat, Ikeja location of the Power Plant noted that those who promised steady power supply in the past four years have shown that their best is simply not good enough having failed to deliver on the promise.
He described the successful completion of the Mainland Independent Power Project as a demonstration that the present Government is one that makes a public commitment and is duty bound to ensure that it stands by it.
The Mainland Independent Power Project would serve agencies like the Lagos State Electricity Board, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Lagos State University College of Medicine, Area F Police Command, the High Court, the Office of the Chief Judge, the Code of Conduct Bureau, the State Water Corporation, the Old Secretariat complex, the State Ministry of Housing Estate and Eko Engineering Limited.
Others include street lights covering a stretch of 20 kilometres from the Old Secretariat, the Ikeja Flyover, Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Agege Motor Road, Ikorodu Road, Jibowu to Maryland, Palm Avenue in Mushin and Ikeja GRA.
Fashola stated that as it is currently constituted, the State Government has operated within the limits allowed states and has clearly demonstrated that steady power supply is indeed deliverable to the people.
According to the Governor, “if tomorrow, the National Assembly legislates that States should generate and distribute power, a state like Lagos will conveniently generate its own electricity and distribute same to its residents”.
Pointing out that there are many lessons to learn from the success which Lagos State has made of its Independent Power Plants, the Governor noted with regrets that Nigeria is the only country with oil and gas that is without steady electricity.
According to him, nations like Gabon, Ghana which also have oil and gas in Africa do not have electricity problem just as the whole of Europe depends on Russia for her gas supplies but has never experienced electricity difficulties.
He reiterated that when the administration gave a commitment that the Mainland Independent Power Project would be commissioned in 2014, it was conscious that this must be accomplished adding that the promise was made then from an informed position.
Noting that some politicians would soon approach the people seeking their votes, the Governor said the possibility of steady power supply would not be achievable if the political mandate is given to a set of people who could not make steady power supply possible after so many years of promising.
He advised the people not to listen to those who would use religion or ethnic affiliation as a basis for campaigning for the peoples’ votes adding that the religion of the various personnel at the helm of affairs of the Ministry of Works and Energy who midwived the IPPs in the state played no part in its success.
“In Lagos, the language anyone speaks does not matter, but what matters is the capability and the competence of the person or agency”, he said, adding that most of the supplies carried out for the projects were not handled by people of Lagos origin.
“If anyone comes to you, saying, please vote for your brother, what should be uppermost is that your so called brother may not be able to provide you with electricity and good roads but you should be more interested in voting for the person who has the capability to deliver the goods”, he stressed.
The Governor, who also spoke on the focus on young people to power the energy sector, said the present administration is committed to harnessing the undying spirit of the young people to develop the sector adding that although the wisdom of the elders would also be needed in forging ahead, space must be opened for the young ones to participate.
“Nigerians as a people must also agree on the fact that there is a need to conserve energy because it is practically impossible to have unfinished energy”, he said adding that just as Nigerians have introduced the word ‘flash’ into the telecommunication lexicon to conserve, the same should be done with electricity too.
Governor Fashola added that from the time of Ehingbeti Summit earlier in the year, the Government knew that the way forward was in solving the energy problem and was committed to doing that.
The Governor, who also sought to know why a Power company like CET Power, with its proven record of success with building power plants, did not qualify as a preferred bidder in the privatization process of the Power Sector by the Federal Government, pointed out that if the best companies participated and did not win, it simply means something is wrong with the process.
He said by October 2015 when the next energy Month would hold, he would have served out his tenure as Governor of Lagos State adding that the several Power programmes under the Energy Month initiative would only continue through the choices that residents of Lagos make at the polls next year.
“Let me remind you that you would be voting in the fifth largest economy in Africa, it is not a place for beginners and it is not a place for experiments”, he said.
Earlier in his address of welcome, the State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Engineer Taofiq Tijani, said the Mainland Independent Power Project is the fourth power plant to be commissioned by the present administration.
He also informed that the on-going Conserve Energy, Save Money (CESM) campaign has run on full steam throughout the month of October and that people could now download the first ever consumer focused household energy calculator from mobile App store.
He said the 8.8 MW Power plant has been made possible through a Public Private Partnership between the Lagos State Government and a consortium of Mainland Power Limited, CET Power and Solad Electric Limited.
Giving a project overview, the Managing Director of CET Power, Mr Obiora Nwizu, said the 8.8 Megawatts Power plant has 5.8 MW as the primary power that is produced by natural gas while the 3 Megawatts standby is driven by diesel.
He said the Mainland Independent Power Project would serve agencies like the Lagos State Electricity Board, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Lagos State University College of Medicine, Area F Police Command, the High Court, the Office of the Chief Judge, the Code of Conduct Bureau, the State Water Corporation, the old Secretariat complex, the State Ministry of Housing Estate and Eko Engineering Limited.
Others include street lights covering a stretch of 20 kilometres from the Old Secretariat, the Ikeja Flyover, Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Agege Motor Road, Ikorodu Road, Jibowu to Maryland, Palm Avenue in Mushin and Ikeja GRA.
Nwizu stressed that there is also a provision to transfer the power plant to Lagos State after 10 years of operation adding that there is also the capacity for expansion of the Mainland Power Plant to 25 MW if the State Government so desires.
The General Manager of the State Electricity Board, Mrs Damilola Ogunbiyi, said the state has so far commissioned four IPPs and each of them is helping the State Government to conserve and save money.
She noted that it was not enough for people to sit at home and complain about inadequacy of power but should work at calculating their energy use and converting to energy bulbs as the State Government has done at the State Secretariat.
In a goodwill message, the Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Dr Sam Amadi, who was represented by Dr Uche Okoh, described the Mainland IPP as symbolizing the future of electricity generation in Nigeria.
Also speaking, the Executive Director of Fidelity Bank, Mr Ikey Mbagwu, thanked the Lagos State Government for keeping faith with the Fidelity Bank in the provision of Independent Power Plants.
The Governor later undertook a guided tour of the Independent Power Plant.
