GGI Sets Agenda For Buhari On Steady Power

Good Governance Initiative (GGI), a steady power advocacy group, has congratulated the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, on his victory at the March 28 presidential election.

The group also commended President Goodluck Jonathan for conceding defeat. In a statement signed by its National President and CEO of Blue Diamond Group, China, Mr. Festus Mbisiogu, the GGI urged the incoming administration to improve on the electricity reform of President Jonathan by unbundling the power sector, which would increase power supply if the generation and distribution companies were given time line within which to deliver uninterrupted power supply to Nigerians.

The group described lack of steady power as the bane of the country’s development. It wondered why at this time of the nation’s history, 80 per cent of economic activities were depended on generators as an alternative source of power supply. The GGI advised Buhari not to change the privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), but look into the challenges faced by the new owners and assist them to provide uninterrupted electricity supply. The group believed that if Buhari fixed the power sector, 70 per cent of the expectation of Nigerians would have been met. It noted that lack of steady power had continued to pose severe challenges to the growth of Small Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the country, which had caused high rate of unemployment.

The group tasked the president-elect to as matter of urgency woo companies such as PZ, Unilever, Dunlop, Michelin and Volkswagen to return to Nigeria, noting that these companies closed shop because of power interruption and left for Ghana and South Africa.