No political promise will materialise without resolving electricity challenge —Presidential aspirant

A presidential aspirant under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), SKC Ogbonnia, has said it would be impossible to fulfill any political promise if the problem confronting the nation’s power sector was not resolved.

Ogbonnia made this known during an interview with Ripples Nigeria on Wednesday in Lagos in the series of interactions with presidential aspirants ahead of the 2019 general elections.

According to him, the problems the nation was facing were largely dependent on the epileptic power supply currently being experienced in the country, adding, that resolving the poor electricity supply would spur business growth, create jobs and translate to economic prosperity for the nation.

“The only way we can do it (diversify the nation’s economy away from the oil sector) is to get the power industry flowing, this cannot happen, you can promise all you want to promise, it’s not going to materialise.

“A country of 200 million still dependent on about 7,000 to 8,000 megawatts, come on… that’s not acceptable! So, if I get the opportunity to become the President, I will invest massively in power and you will see practical results within a short period of time,” he said.

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He argued that electricity challenge had persisted over the years because the nation had failed to implement existing energy policies, citing a roadmap for the power sector reform aimed at generating power from different sources as an example of such policies.

The presidential aspirant noted that despite the introduction of the roadmap, the nation’s power sector was still dependent on gas to power electricity.

He maintained that the privatization of the sector was premature considering the current importance of electricity to the development of the country.

“If the private sector is not doing well, let’s find a way to make sure we influence the private sector to do well, if we have to lend the money we lend the money.

“The more the private sector is stranded in the current roadmap, the more you are holding the nation back and that is where the job for the youth lies,” Ogbonnia added.

 

 

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