Former presidential adviser on power to former President Goodluck Jonathan and former director general, Energy Commission of Nigeria, Emeritus Professor Abubakar Sambo, Thursday, said for the incessant collapse of national grid to abate, states should be encouraged to have state-wide grids.
This, he said, would allow state grids to operate independently such that faults in one state will not affect other states.
Delivering the 12th convocation lecture of the Kwara state University Malete (KWASU), the former vice chancellor of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi, also advocated the development of Nigeria’s nuclear power as a means of expanding its alternative energy sources for the country’ s development.
This is just as he charged Kwara state government to join the league of states like Kogi, Jigawa and Lagos that have opted to having their electricity markets by establishing their own Electricity Regulatrory Commissions so they can develop their own independent power.
“We have no reason to be energy poor, we have no reasons to be allowing our industries to be closing down and moving to other countrie,” he said.
In his lecture titled: “The Optimum Unitilastion of Nigeria’s Energy Resources for Sustainable Growth and Development,” Sambo identified inadequate infrastructures, manpower, corruption, lack of political will and the recent vandalisation of power lines by bandits amongst others as challenges to achieving Nigeria’s energy sufficiency.
“As a step towards the rationalisation of the national grid, the state should ensure they have state-wide grids as part of establishing their electricity markets as provided by Electricity Acts 2023,” he said.
