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To
address the problem of power supply in Lagos State, the government
should set a target date to ban the use of generators and work towards
providing alternative source of power generation, the Managing Director
for British Gas Nigeria, Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, said yesterday in Lagos.

Mr. Adeyemi-Bero,
who spoke during a session on ‘Power Infrastructure, Institutions and
Operations’ at the ongoing 5th Lagos Economic Summit, urged the Lagos
State government to consider itself a city state within a country that
does not have power, and work towards resolving the problem to its own
benefit.

“I believe there is
a flaw in our thinking,” he said. “If we continue to do what we have
always done, we will continue to get what we have always gotten. We
need to have a mindset change.”

He debunked the
claim that Nigeria generates only 3,000MW of power, saying that Nigeria
actually produces about 20,000MW, out which 5,000MW is generated by the
Power Holding Company of Nigeria, and the remaining 15,000MW is being
produced by generators in Nigerian homes, offices, and industries.

“This isn’t too far
from South Africa’s level of generation. But we are spending way too
much in producing power by way of diesel and petrol,” he said.

The British Gas
boss said the state government, in its bid to build Lagos into Africa’s
mega city, must tackle, with urgency, the issue of power. To do this,
he said, the government should set a target date of about ten years
from now to ban the use of generators in the state.

“An emerging model
city will never happen if the state does not solve the power crisis,”
Mr. Adeyemi-Bero said. “Until we aim at something, then we will try and
work at getting to the target. And the ban must be backed-up with a
plan on how to achieve the aim.”

The energy expert
also recommended that Lagos designs its own power generation
master-plan, which must state the energy resources available in the
state, such as gas, wind, and waste.

“The master plan
must talk about what proportion is expected from each of the resources
or alternatives avaliable to the state,” he said. “When we go to
mega-cities around the world, we don’t see NEPA poles and over bearing
cables, so Lagos needs to develop a master-plan to dictate its plans.”

Looking for private support

He also warned the
state government to eschew the reliance on the sole supply of the
needed gas through the Escravos trough, noting that “nothing stops
Lagos from importing gas, as Japan does, if the cost of laying pipeline
from the Niger-Delta is a trouble that it has always been.”

Ayo Gbeleyi, the
Director General of the Lagos State Public-Private Partnership, in his
speech, disclosed that the state has set a medium and long term goal of
generating between 12,000MW-20,000MW of power in collaboration with the
private sector. He noted that the failure of the federal governement to
meet the set-target of 6,000MW by December, 2009 has created a massive
opportunity for the private sector to come and invest in the sector.

He said that the
state would be needing the help of the private sector in a number of
projects it has initiated to make the state a model city in Africa.

The Director
General of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Mansur
Ahmed, said that for Lagos to achieve its dream of becoming Africa’s
model city, “we must address constitutional power of power generation
vested in the federal government.”

He also said that for Nigeria’s economy to grow to achieve its vision 202020, Lagos economy has to grow faster.