Electricity: Uduaghan Urges FG to Decentralise Distribution

Written by This Day Tuesday, 27 April 2010

Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has called on the Federal Government to decentralise power distribution so as to accelerate the development of the country.

He made the call while making a presentation in Geneva, Switzerland, at a two-day state organised summit, Delta Diaspora Direct (D3), for Nigerians and non-Nigerians on how Nigerians, especially Deltans in the Diaspora can make meaningful contribution to the development of the state.

Uduaghan noted that the failure to decentralise the energy sector has hampered the development of many states in Nigeria.

He said it is bad enough that the Federal Government has not been able to fix the energy challenges facing the country, but it is even worse that when alternative options are sought, the centralisation of the sector constitutes a lot of constraints in making any headway.

Uduaghan informed the audience at the summit that although Delta State has contributed about N3.9 billion to the Independent Power Projects (IPP) initiative of the Federal Government, the fruit of the investment is yet to be reaped.

He regretted that even though Delta State is already working on a private energy plan that can generate between 100 to 250 mega watts, “we will still not have access to it when it is ready because the sector is not yet deregulated”, adding further that we may generate any amount of megawatt, but it has to be sent to the national grid, and it is only from there that whatever you generate can be transmitted and distributed”.

He argued that the relative efficiency Nigeria has recorded in the telecommunication sector is because the sector has been completely deregulated.

The governor expressed concern that the failure of the Federal Government to fix the energy problem has slowed down the development pace of the country in general and Delta State in particular.

According to him, one-third o f the people of Delta State are not on the national grid, stressing that for the fact that the Federal Government is in charge of generating, transmitting and distributing power, “we can use our own power plant initiative to deal with that group of Deltans”. He announced that despite the regulation by the Federal Government, the state is building a modular power plant.

In his presentation, Professor Philip Emegwali, the U.S-based Nigerian computer guru, lamented that the situation in Nigeria had caused the country to lose so many of its human capital.

He said: “Nigeria can become an economic power if it improves the situation in the country so it can record ‘a brain gain from the brain drain’.”

Emegwali challenged Nigerians to develop visions that can launch the nation into the next level, “because it is when you show the light that the people can find their way.”

“Africa and indeed Nigeria can alleviate poverty by expanding the frontiers of science, climbing the tree of knowledge”, he said, stressing that, “we must challenge the status quo”.