Stories by Tope Sunday
Abuja
A Nuclear and Radiation Physics expert, Mr. Charles Adesanmi, has called for the review and total overhauling of the country’s power policy.
Adesanmi, who retired as a director at the Nuclear Technology Centre (NTC), also advocated that the 20 per cent annual budget provision for the sector be channeled the nuclear sector.
The nuclear expert also called on the Federal Government to extend invitations to foreigners to invest in the country’s power sector.
Adesanmi, who spoke in an interview recently, also called for the separation of the Ministry of Power from the present Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, adding that the sector should have a Minister and a Minister of State because of its peculiar challenges.
He said: “The government should completely review and overhaul the power programme. About 20 per cent of any funds available for power programme should be channeled to nuclear. If they want to do nuclear, they should plan for power station of at least 4, 000 megawatts, not the 200, 300 they are doing.
“We cannot be talking about 200 megawatts when we are going to 80, 000. Also, it is wrong to lump other ministries with power when we know we have problem in that sector. For power alone, there should be a minister and a minister of state. Not to put one person in charge of three.
“The government should use all its diplomatic relationship to woo friends of Nigeria to come and invest and the government should be prepared to invest to demonstrate to them ( the investors) that they are serious.
“The analysis is that we need about 80, 000 megawatts to be self-sufficient and we are talking of 1000 megawatts costing about N700 billion. The way forward is to ask these countries to come and invest. We need to be serious about it and make financial commitment.
“If we say we have $20, 000 billion dollars and seek help from these developed countries they will come to our aid. They will bring the technology, build, own and run it. The arrangement should be that Nigeria should be earning from their profit, like 40 per cent. From there, the government will recover the investment’’.
