From Dominic Uzu, Kaduna
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign and Domestic Affairs, Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna Central at the upper legislative chamber has said that Nigeria wasted $20 Bilion in 13 years trying to fix its electricity in the country
He made this revelation while commending President Barrack Obama’s Electricity Act 2015 for Africa which he said was a positive step to light up the continent and accelerate economic activities.
“Nigeria been the most populous African nation,must support and key into this initiative. With our 3000 megawatts of electricity generation and a population of about 175 Million, Obama’s Electricity for Africa act is a welcome development. Most of our power infrastructure in Africa are colonial legacies vandalized by weariness of time and institutional neglect.
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“As bitter as it’s also, Nigeria’s power sector is partly grounded by fraud, perpetrated by previous Governments made up of politicians, bureaucrats, local capitalists and western multinationals involved in power sector investment. Electricity for Africa act must be mindful of this. Over $20Billion dollars was wasted in our country within a period of 13 years and it only led us into a bottomless ditch of darkness,” he said
According to the Senator, “The act will help people in rural and urban Africa to have access to electricity and improve on the quality of life and standard of living. The electricity for Africa act 2015 when faithfully implemented will surely assist African Governments to provide power related social services in cities and remote areas of the continent”.
He observed that electricity generation and supply has been a big challenge to most African countries for decades, adding that African Governments have been overwhelmed and that outages affects lives and paralyses businesses and perpetuates underdevelopment.
“Africa cannot develop itself nor reach an industrial status as long as it’s power sector remains in an epileptic status. We must move away from been a continent of imported Generators. It is time to leap away from darkness to a brighter future where electricity is accessible and affordable to the masses of our people”, he added.
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Senator Sani advised that the reported $7Billion commitment by the US government to support the scheme should be faithfully provided to give life and meaning to the act; “ I call on African Governments to act in unison through the African Union and take this opportunity. I call on the US Government to ensure a faithful continuity of the program even after the Obama administration .And I wish to advice the US government to shun political considerations or conditionalities in the implementation of the act”.
He said it is pertinent for Africans to know that despite all foreign economic interventions, our development and future still lies in our hands. African Governments have a constitutional and moral responsibility to provide infrastructure and create an enabling environment for investment and development.