- Industrialisation Impossible With 2,200MW of Power
The Senior Vice-President, Strategy and Development, Centre for Values in Leadership, Mr. Rasheed Adegbenro, has said that the 2,200 megawatts of electricity being generated currently is not sufficient for industrial revolution in the country.
Speaking on Tuesday, he said that industrial development was unrealistic with per capita consumption of 13 watts of electricity.
According to Adegbenro, who is a former Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, power is critical to the development of the country and its scarcity and absence of other infrastructure should be challenged.
He said, “We want to be industrialised and we have a minister of Industry, Trade and Investment launching a massive industrial revolution plan, on what? Is it on 13 watts per capita? It is not doable. There is no magic that can be performed. If you have television, refrigerator and air conditioner at home, you are consuming the energy of 100 people. There is no way we can run industrialisation on a per capita consumption of 13 watts.
“Population is not a challenge but our politicians see it as a challenge. Can security and infrastructure match population explosion? Can school education today match the population explosion of tomorrow? The social, physical and economic infrastructure in the country needs to be debated and put in the public domain.”
He noted that developing countries were already responding to the challenges of the population explosion with the introduction of smart cities, adding that Lagos and Enugu states had keyed into the global concern.
According to him, the 14th edition of the CVL Annual Lecture/International Leadership Symposium will examine these issues and others such as cities of the future, urban renewal, urban governance, promoting and developing well-planned and efficient cities around the world, and cities and living well together, among others.
Adegbenro said that a renowned scholar and professor of African economies at Oxford University, United Kingdom, Paul Collier, would speak on the challenge of Africa’s future cities as the keynote speaker.
According to him, a former Governor of Cross River State, Liyel Imoke, will chair the event themed: ‘Living Well Together, Tomorrow: The Challenge of Africa’s Future Cities’, while the Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, will be the chief guest of honour; and the chief host at the event is the Founder/CEO, CVL, Prof. Pat Utomi.