The Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, on Tuesday said that the power plants constructed in the state are already making impact in different sectors of the economy.
Addressing the stakeholders at the Lagos Economic Summit, Governor Fashola said that the two power plants at Alausa and Lagos Island, constructed after the last summit, had improved power supply in hospitals, 14 schools, police commands and some courts.
“The power plants generated 259 jobs during the construction alone. It has impacted security in the state and over 42 streets have been lit-up across the state.
“About 198 generators have been decommissioned,” he said.
The governor emphasised the need for more of such power plants to help boost power supply in the state which requires over 10,000 megawatts of electricity to meet demand.
It is currently getting only 1,000 megawatts from the national grid.
Governor Fashola pointed out that a study conducted by the State government among 22 traders in Iyana Ipaja area of the state, before and after lighting up some streets, showed that their average monthly incomes grew by 42 per cent, from to 78,000 Naira to 110, 760 Naira, a development he said highlighted the impact power could have on the income of Nigerians if adequately provided.
He stressed that the traders attributed the growth to the fact that they could still trade for extra hours because of the street lights.
“They feel safer to do business with the light on the street,” he said
The Summit is coming days after the Nigerian economy was rebased, making Nigeria the largest economy in Africa with a GDP of 510 billion dollars.
But Governor Fashola stressed that the stories of GDP growth would not adjust the realities of the average Nigerian, insisting that concrete actions based on well thought out initiatives would rebase the realities of Nigerian.
He said that “the power sector is the critical enabler of the national economy”, a reality that informed the theme of the summit; ‘POWERING THE LAGOS ECONOMY: Real Opportunities, Endless Possibilities’.
At the summit, investors, consumers and policy makers in the power sector will be looking to proffer solutions to the power challenges in the state with a population of over 20 million and still grappling with 1,000 megawatts of electricity.
The summit, which started on Tuesday, will end on April 10.
