Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has appealed to members of the House of Representatives to allow input of sub-national governments in the 2022 Electricity Bill to solve the complicated issues surrounding generation, transmission, and distribution of power in Nigeria.
Sanwo-Olu made the appeal during the handover ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Lagos State Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to bolster the overall energy security for the residents of the state in Ikeja on Tuesday.
The IRP was commissioned by the Lagos State Government in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Power Africa as part of the Nigeria Power Sector Programme (PA-NPSP).
Speaking at the event, Governor Sanwo-Olu, who said Lagos is the first state to come up with IRP initiative, noted that despite privatisation, a lot was needed to be done in the power sector.
He stated that it would be better for each state to identify and proffer solutions to their peculiar power needs.
Sanwo-Olu said: “There has been some form of privatisation but we still need a lot more. There is a bill that is currently with the National Assembly, specifically in the House of Representatives that we need to make a big case about. We want our input in the bill. We want the members of the House of Representatives to call sub-national; states so that we can have proper input into the bill and finally unbundle all of the bottlenecks in the power sector.
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“We can sit down together and bring about a bill that is bankable; a bill that will help private sector funding and financing in today’s sector and a bill in which everybody can move at their pace; every location can actually analyse what their demands are and what their future demands would be. This kind of bill will help all of us do a good job of our worth.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu also urged stakeholders, including the top officials of Ikeja Electric and Eko Disco who were at the handing-over ceremony not to leave the document on the shelf.
“We can indeed make this economy work for our people. We can make it work for small and medium businesses and cooperate to have access to their power need. It is only when we do that that we will trickle-fold the GDP of this State and of course by extension, the GDP of this country.
“I want to say to every member that this is a job cut out, we cannot go to sleep. This document should not just stay on our shelf, it is something that we need to analyse and digest,” the governor added.
Also speaking at the event, the United States Consul-General, Williams Stevens, described electricity as the basis of economic growth, trade, and investments, adding that the United States government would partner with Lagos State.
“The U.S. government is committed to expanding and supporting the modernization of Lagos’s energy sector, building a foundation for broad and inclusive economic and social development. This Integrated Resource Plan is a concrete testament to the partnership between the United States and Lagos State as we both work together to create a sustainable and equitable future,” he said.
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