The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi has disclosed that his administration would generate nothing short of 20,000MW of electricity in four years if elected in the forthcoming election.
Obi made this disclosure on Sunday, January 8, 2023, during Channels TV programme, ‘The People’s Townhall 2023’, monitored by DAILY POST.
He said, “Within four years, we will be able to generate and distribute not less than 20,000MW”.
He also hinted that Nigeria is underutilizing its geographic sea port potential, urging that he will work with the private sector to build and manage ports for economic diversification.
In the first quarter of 2022, the twenty-six electricity power generation companies, GenCos, generated 4,712.34MW of electricity, according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s recent quarterly report.
“We are going to make it work. What we need to is to unbundle first, the transmission line, because today, we are actually generating up to 10,000MW but the transmission lines can’t carry that ( grid) by unbundling the transmission lines, support the DisCos to make sure at least what is produced is distributed accordingly, which should be done under a guideline.
“Then we have to open up as South Africa has done for its power, even with a population of 60 million, they are generating, almost over 40,000MW, they declared an emergency and said anyone can generate up to 100MW without a license.
He added if South Africa generating nearly 50,000MW can declare such a power emergency, he will declare war on Nigerian Power generation.
The Labour Party candidate also hinted that Egypt recently repositioned its power sector and a few years went from 20,000MW to 50,000MW in production capacity.
“Egypt did the same thing, they had about 20,000MW, and they discovered from studies that power is a critical issue, today they generate almost 50,000mw.
“If this can be done around us, why not Nigeria, within 4 years, we should be able to generate not less than 20,000 MW, it’s going to be war.
Datti Baba-Ahmed, his Vice candidate added that Nigerians must also be willing to cooperate with the FG in fixing power, citing that a new era of pricing is also needed. He said:
“Why buy fuel cheap and buy security more expensive, as long as there is domestic demand that is boosted by a new government that is able to save from waste, the marginal increase is going to bring you to a level that we are paying the realistic commercial price level for either energy or electricity.”
“Nigerians should develop an attitude of reason with the people because a government does not operate in a vacuum, they must be understanding and the participation of Nigerians is important.
“We have to understand that this a new era of pricing, there is an era in which it was taken for granted that electricity must come cheap, now we must pay commercial rate.
“If people do not pay the market rate, it will not work.”
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