Lagos state government said it was working towards raising electricity generation from 1000mw daily to 15,000mw by 2020.
The state Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Ben Akabueze, stated this when he was addressing the media on the seventh Lagos Economic Summit (LES) tagged.
He said the projection was premised on anticipated significant investment it hoped to attract into the power sector of the state economy as one of the objectives, which this year’s summit was set to achieve.
‘‘We project that by 2020, the minimum in terms of our power requirement will be 15,000mw, which means over the next six years, we expect about 50 percent growth in the base demand that we see today. Is it possible for supply to match that demand? Absolutely, in six years it is possible if there is sufficient investment to go from 1,000mw to 15,000mw,’’he said.
He said although the summit would focus on power, three other key sectors where stable power would impact significantly would also come under focus during the summit.
He said the state government was seeking to attract investment into the power sector, a lead focus at the summit in line with the global acknowledgement of efficient and reliable power system as the bedrock for economic growth anywhere in the world.
He said inadequate power infrastructure was one of the factors responsible for the slow growth and development of the Nigerian economy.
He stressed that the current supply of 1,000mw of electricity to the state from the national grid was grossly inadequate for a mega city like Lagos.
He also regretted that Nigeria was still grappling with how to overcome its power challenge at a time many countries in her class including South Africa, which is just one-thirds of the size of the population of the state, were already celebrating milestones in the production of electric power far in excess of the demand of their citizens whether for commercial, industrial or domestic uses.
He however said the state government was also exploring the summit to market the inherent opportunities offered by the power deficit to perceptive investors.
He added that the state had, within the provisions of the federal government’s Electric Power Sector Reforms (EPSR), developed a number of power initiatives including three completed independent power plants and two ongoing projects.
