Lagos Saves Money with IPP – Gov Fashola

When the Lagos State government commissioned its independent power projects located at Lagos Island and Alausa, many had thought it wont have much impact on the economy of the commercial centre of the country.

But in two years alone, apart from generating about 259 employments,the project, which is powered by gas, led to the decommissioning of 198 generating sets.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 7th Lagos Economic Summit,  tagged Ehingbeti 2014, Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State governor, disclosed that the energy cost in Lagos House Marina has reduced by 40 per cent with more reliable power. Apart from the state house, Fashola added that Island maternity, 14 schools, Police Zone II headquartersand Lion building, which are police formations, among others now witness uninterrupted power supply. To boost the beneficiaries of regular power supply, he noted that the Ehingbeti 2014 is focused on power and  its diverse investment opportunities.

Mikheil Saakashvili, former president,Georgia and the keynote speaker of the summit, agrees with the Lagos State governor that residents would benefit  more from the current reform exercise going on in the power sector if certain steps are taken. “To grow and develop Georgian power sector, I had to fire many agencies that were not doing anything and created a political will for the desired economic growth,” Saakashvili said at the summit tagged, Powering the Lagos Economy: Real Opportunities, Endless Possibilities.

“The state of the Georgian power sector was worse than that of Nigeria now before my administration. Both government and investors need to learn from our experiences because it is an affirmation of the quality of deliberations and most importantly investment decisions that would be taken in this summit,” he added.

Other headline speakers that are expected to feature in the three days are industrialists and stakeholders in the energy sector. Some of them are Aliko Dangote, president, Dangote Group, Barth Nnaji, former minister of power, Sam Amadi, chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Chima Ibeneche, chairman, Falcon Petroleum limited and Charles Momoh, West Power & Gas among others.