BY G9IJA
Otedola said since he was born, Nigeria has been stuck at 5,000 megawatts, but only Aliko Dangote, the founder of Dangote Cement, has managed to build 2,000 megawatts of power for his cement plant.
He made this known on Tuesday during the closing gong ceremony hosted by the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) in Lagos.
Otedola, who is also the largest shareholder of First Bank Nigeria (FBN), said the power sector of Nigeria has a lot of problems which could be solved depending on the country’s leadership.
Under the administrations of President Muhammadu Buhari and Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s power grid collapsed at least 220 times. This is between 2010 and 2022.
Last year, the grid collapsed six times in 10 months, with the country’s power generation fluctuating between 4,000 megawatts and 5,000 megawatts, with the highest level being 5,801.6MW on March 1, 2021.
“The power sector has a lot of problems but they are surmountable problems. It is a matter of leadership in the country and willpower,” Otedola stated.
Otedola said it was appalling and disheartening that all the successive governments had failed to improve the deplorable electricity supply.
According to the investor, new plants built by the government eight to 10 years ago are still sitting idly. He also stated: “So any government that thinks well will say let us look for few entrepreneurs in this sector that have committed so much capital and time and let them sort out the problem.”
During his speech, Otedola said he now feels the pain of poor power supply, as he had to install solar power in his power generating company to reduce costs.
“Of course, with Forte and Zenon, I used to control the diesel market. Today, I am crying. I have asked my team (my back office) to start installing solar power to save the cost of diesel. If power is well organised, it is even cheaper,” Otedola said.