Shettima flags off Light Up Nigeria project for South East

• Uzodimma seeks probe of investments in power sector
• VP commissions Aba power plant

Vice President Kashim Shettima, yesterday, flagged off the Light Up Nigeria Programme – South East Initiative, saying it is part of the Federal Government’s efforts to improve energy supply to industrial clusters in the South East.

This is as governors of the South East states called for a comprehensive audit of the power sector, stressing that over 85 per cent of manufacturing industries in the region have closed shops due to lack of power supply.

At the launch of the programme in Enugu, in collaboration with the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Shettima assured the South East business community of President Bola Tinubu’s determination to improve power supply in the country, as a way of accelerating industrial growth. The VP stressed that the project was a renewal of hope for industrialists and investors in the region

He said: “The long awaited solution to epileptic power supply is finally here, and this project will help to stabilise Nigeria, because if there is no power, there can be industrialisation.

“The economic fortune of Nigeria remains the critical concern of the President, as we believe that if the power sector works, Nigeria works too. So, we must make the project work and make the South East work.”

Chairman of South East Governors’ Forum and Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, noted that the power problem in Nigeria cannot be solved overnight, stressing that to get to the root of the perennial problem, there is need to audit efforts made by previous administrations.

He said: “This will enable us to move from the known to unknown. We must wear our thinking cap and ask ourselves why government after government could not give us stable electricity supplies after the investments in that sector. We have gas and oil, yet we cannot generate enough electricity. It means we need to ask questions.”

Uzodimma lamented that it would be unfair for several billions of dollars to be spent on the power sector without any positive results.

He added: “There are questions that are capable of provoking renewed interests of our people in Nigeria. In 1998, Nigeria was generating about 6,000 megawatts of electricity. From 1999 to 2007, over $13 billion was spent by the Federal Government to boost power.

“In 2024, over 78 per cent of homes and industries in Nigeria do not have access to power.”

ALSO, Shettima, on behalf of the President, yesterday, commissioned the Aba, Abia State, Integrated Power Project at Osisioma Layout, describing the project, undertaken by Geometric Power Group that took 20 years to build, as an evidence of a dream come true and a game changer.

He said that similar and other essential projects could be undertaken in the country, citing leadership problems as the bane of the country.

Recognising the role played by Governor Alex Otti before and after becoming the governor, including what he has done in the state as governor in his eight months in office, the VP said: “Posterity would be kind to Otti.”

In his address titled, ‘The power to dream,’ Otti described the project as a dawn of a new era in power generation, transmission and distribution, which is pivotal to Abia’s development, signaling invitation to investors.