The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has called out to stakeholders in the power sector to put a permanent end to blackouts in the Lagos and Nigeria generally, during a stakeholders’ meeting tagged: “Lagos State Government high-level strategic town hall meeting on ending the culture of blackouts and building a sustainable 24/7 power economy in Lagos State,” held at State House, Marina on Thursday, 21st August.
He also urged the stakeholders to “confront the harsh realities obstructing progress in the power sector,” acknowledging the frustration across both public and private sectors regarding plans that provide very little implementable results.
He pointed out the aim of the session to be towards the development of a functional, actionable roadmap to deliver reliable electricity supply across Lagos to serve residents and businesses, rather than continuous unproductive discussions.
The deputy governor of the state, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, alongside some members of the State Executive Council, important public and private sector leaders such as representatives from Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), state power authorities, such as the Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission (LASERC) and the Independent System Operator were present to put heads together and come up with feasible plans.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Biodun Ogunleye, stated that the closed door meeting was initiated to end the culture of blackouts in the state. He added that besides gaining an understanding of identified gaps pointed it by practitioners, it also brought forward studies undertaken by the state government to put an end to electricity’s instability.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission, Temitope George, during her remark highlighted major challenges in generation and transmission of electricity such as energy theft, vandalism and non-payment of electricity bills and urged electricity users to pay for the power utility.
She warned that non-payment affects the electricity market and ultimately cuts other consumers’ ability to receive power supply adequately.