PENGASSAN insists electricity won’t improve after May 29, chides Buhari’s poor legacies
BY NOSA AKENZUA
Huge debts, operational barriers laced with poor investments, were critical Challenges that the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria ( PENGASSAN) insisted at the weekend in Asaba would hinder the improvement of power supply in Nigeria.
Mr. Festus Osifo, President of the union who spoke to journalists said that although electricity is considered a major determinant of economic development, attaining efficiency, had remained an abysmal failure against the backdrop of a flawed privatisation exercise, declaring that the dismal outlook of the power sector may not change any time soon.
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He explained that President Mohammadu Buhari’s administration has not improved the electricity supply to homes and industries during the past eight years adding that with 4,500 MW in the past eight years, Nigerians looking forward to improved electricity supply may continue to wait as inherent challenges may still lower power generation. He observed that the worsening exchange rate crisis in the country would also drastically impede the sector as majority of tools and equipment used in the sector are dollar based.
The Union however urged the incoming government to adopt the Nigeria LNG limited ( NLNG) model to run the nation’s four refineries upon completion. “The country must do all within its reach to see that the conclusion of the current rehabilitation efforts and initiatives that are currently in place, so that our nation’s refineries will come up in no time”, he said.
While decrying the perilous state of economy, Osifo stressed that Nigerians had hoped for a prosperous country with a steady growth of the GDP, increased access to employment and diversification of the economy, but unfortunately, this is yet to be achieved more than six decades after Independence.
