Supply, Critical to Nigeria’s Economic, Industrial Devt, Say Nnaji, Soludo
Christopher Isiguzo Former Minister of Power, Prof Bart Nnaji and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof Charles Soludo, yesterday in Enugu declared that for Nigeria to achieve rapid economic and industrial transformation, it must first address the problem of power supply.
The duo who spoke at the third edition of the ‘Big Ideas Podium of the African Heritage Institution’, Enugu, with the theme: ‘Electricity: Key Ingredient to Nigeria’s Economic Development and Unity’, also insisted that power remained critical to the nation’s to quest to become one of the 20 most industrialised nations of the world.
They also noted that uninterrupted power supply would go a long way in ensuring the return of lasting peace, unity and stability in the polity, stressing that with increasing rate of unemployment coupled with the absence of reliable electricity to power the manufacturing sector, the youths easily resort to all forms of crimes and agitations.
Nnaji who was a guest speaker at the occasion, lamented that the problem in the power sector had impacted negatively on the polity, noting that electricity remained a primary ingredient to industrial and economic growth.
“It pervades every aspect of the economy. It leads to stability of the nation, it leads to unity. It is when people are so impoverished that they demand change. Economic growth leads to positive interactions among all ethnic groups and this leads to unity,” he said.
The former minister expressed dismay that the nation has a total installed power of 12,000 megawatts as against China and United States with 1.3 million and 1.1 million megawatts respectively, adding that it must have been miraculous for the nation to grow the economy with such low megawatts.
He said even with the privatisation of power sector, nothing much had been achieved as none of the distribution companies had built single sub-station in the last three years, a development he described as unfortunate.