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By Lukman Olabiyi
Lagos State Government has called for an urgent review of Nigeria’s power generation and distribution law under the purview of the Federal Government in view of the huge amount spent on diesel daily by manufacturing sector in the State.
The state Commissioner for Energy, Olalere Odusote, made this call at the end of the Third Real Estate Market Place Conference and Exhibitions held in Victoria Island.
Speaking on the topic:” Sustainable Energy Solutions in the Real Estate”, the commissioner said that personal energy generated by individuals, corporate organisations including real estate practitioners usually comes with huge financial burden in addition to the environmental pollution that comes with it.
According to him, the country’s real estate sector is still begging for huge investment in the area of power to make the sector more viable and attractive to potential investors.
He explained that the two distribution companies in Lagos State – Eko Disco and Ikeja Electric – established nine years ago, sold about 800 to 900 megawatts initially and had only improved to 800 to 1,000 megawatts nine years after.
“Nothing has changed in the national grid sector nine years after. However, Lagos State within a spate of nine years had grown from having about 8,000 megawatts of installed diesel capacity to about 23,000 megawatts.
“The diesel market of the off-grid market has grown by about 300 per cent but the grid market has not grown at all or just about one to two per cent,” he said.
He lamented that the state injected almost 1,000 transformers into the grid to improve electricity supply to its residents, but without the desired result.
Odusote said a lot of the energy utilised in Lagos came from diesel generators, and that because of the high population of the city, the emission from that energy source had become unsustainable.
The commissioner explained that Lagos had been projected to be city with the largest population in the world in 50 years. Therefore, energy for the housing infrastructure needed for the population must be put into consideration.
