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- Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili and Fashola With the theme of Powering The Lagos Economy.
- The city needs about 10,000 megawatts of electricity to meet demand, but it is currently getting 1,000 megawatts from the national grid.
- If the economy is growing at over seven per cent without power, you can imagine the possibilities when there is power.
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A Former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili and the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, at the Lagos State Economic Summit[/caption] With the theme, ‘POWERING THE LAGOS ECONOMY: Real Opportunities, Endless Possibilities’, the summit hopes to increase the power quality and quantity in Lagos State.
As the economic hub of Nigeria with a fast increasing population, the city needs about 10,000 megawatts of electricity to meet demand, but it is currently getting 1,000 megawatts from the national grid.
The State’s Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr Ben Nwabueze, said that the summit, bringing together investors, consumers and policy makers in the power sector, would seek to get more investors involved in the power sector since it had been made more open for private investments.
The Nigerian government in November last year unbundled the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and sold its shares to the private entities, a move aimed at making the sector more productive and efficient, considering its potential in unlocking opportunities that will boost development and economic growth.
“If we can deliver power in the right quality and quantity, the opportunities it will unlock are immense,” Mr Nwabueze told Chat212 on the sideline of the Summit on Tuesday.
“If the economy is growing at over seven per cent without power, you can imagine the possibilities when there is power.
“This summit is the best opportunity available to discuss how the power challenge could be fixed.”
Land Of Opportunities
The unbundling of the PHCN empowered state governments more, making them key players on the side of demand regulation.
According to the commissioner, more power availability would open up government service delivery and make the Lagos State government able to meet its target of making the state, which has a population of over 20 million, a model mega city.
The summit is coming days after the rebasing of the Nigerian economy and Mr Nwabueze says the rebasing will help open up the Lagos State economy more, with all its potentials made more pronounced for investors to see.
“Lagos is a land of opportunities and that has kept people coming in.
“The Summit is about marketing the potentials and showing what should be done to move from the state we are now to another level. We will be looking at what everyone should do more,” he said.
Using power efficiently in Nigeria is not a culture and the State government had been advocating power conservation, an initiative it also intends to push further at the summit, as it would help improve power availability, Mr Nwabueze said.
The Summit, holding from April 8 to 10, will begin with an appraisal of the implementation of the last summit resolutions to be sure that targets set are met.
