If elected president of Nigeria in 2023, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed to bring about change in that country.
In the midst of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) strike drama, the commitment has been made.
The union had shut down power plants on Wednesday due to welfare concerns.
After meeting with Dr. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labor, NUEE decided to put the strike on hold for two weeks.
In a Facebook post about the country’s power crisis, Atiku stated that he has no financial stake, directly or indirectly, in any generator company.
In this regard, my strategy is to first take the entire electricity value chain off the exclusive list and allow states the authority to produce, transfer, and distribute electricity on their own, the man said. An industry in Lagos, a factory in Aba or Kano, or even a typical Nigerian who just wants to get home, watch the news, and sleep under a ceiling fan, shouldn’t be impacted by a labor dispute with the FG in Abuja.
“Second, my policy will work toward better investment coordination across the whole electrical value chain. Without consideration for the complementary transmission and distribution infrastructure to move the extra energy, investments in greater generation capacity are useless.
“Any investment in extra generation capacity would be obtained through competitive bidding while taking into account a workable combination of renewable (hydro, solar, wind, and biofuels) and non-renewable (coal, gas) choices for energy security,”
In order to accomplish this, “we shall provide incentives to private investors to invest in the building of various green-field mini-grid transmission systems to be looped into the super-grip in the medium to long term, while leaving the FG to focus on policy, regulation, and standardization.”
