Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has called on members of the House of Representatives to allow state governments to make input into the Electricity Bill 2022 which will allow states to generate, transmit and distribute their own electricity.
Sanwo-Olu stated this during the handover of the Lagos State Integrated Energy Resource Plan, which was done by the Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in collaboration with the United States of America through the USAID and Power Africa Nigeria Power Sector Programme (PA-NPSP).
In his address, Sanwo-Olu said, “There has been some form of privatisation but we still need a lot more. There is a bill that is currently with the National Assembly, specifically in the House of Representatives that we need to make a big case about. We want our input in the bill. We want the members of the House of Representatives to call sub-national; states so that we can have proper input into the bill and finally unbundle all of the bottlenecks in the power sector.
“We can sit down together and bring about a bill that is bankable; a bill that will help private sector funding and financing in today’s sector and a bill in which everybody can move at their pace; every location can actually analyse what their demands are and what their future demands would be. This kind of bill will help all of us do a good job of our worth.”
The governor urged stakeholders, including the top officials of Ikeja Electric and Eko DisCo who were at the ceremony not to leave the document on the shelf.
“We can indeed make this economy work for our people. We can make it work for small and medium businesses and cooperate to have access to their power needs. It is only when we do that that we will trickle-fold the GDP of this State and of course by extension, the Gross Domestic product (GDP) of this country.’’
The US consul-general, Lagos, Mr. Williams Stevens, in his address described electricity as the basis of economic growth, trade and investments, adding that the United States government is excited to partner with Lagos State.
“The US government is committed to expanding and supporting the modernization of Lagos’s energy sector, building a foundation for broad and inclusive economic and social development. This Integrated Resource Plan is a concrete testament to the partnership between the United States and Lagos State as we both work together to create a sustainable and equitable future,” he said.
