Former Presidential Aide Calls for  Urgent Regionalisation of National Grids

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin 

A former Special Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Power, Professor Abubakar Sani Sambo has  called for urgent regionalisation of the National Grids in the country so as to  avert the incessant power blackout in the country.

Sambo stated that, such move would  also  allow the affected states to rise to the faults emanated from the grids.

Sambo, a former vice chancellor of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University(ATBU) Bauchi in Bauchi state made the call in Ilorin, Kwara state capital over the weekend while delivering the 12th convocation lecture of the Kwara State University(KWASU), Malete in Moro local government council of the state.

The theme of the lecture is  titled, “Optimum Utilisation of Nigeria’s Energy Resources for the Sustainable Growth and Development of the Nation.”

Sambo, a former Director General of Energy Commission of Nigeria(ECN) and also a guest lecturer at the event said that, “the regionalisation of the National Grids  would allow the states to operate independently such that faults in one state will not affect other states.”

He added that, the continued centralisation of the National Grids would not help the country to stop incessant power blackout in the country.

He also said that, the development would assist the affected states to establish their electricity market as provided by Electricity Act 2023.

Sambo noted that, the regionalisation of the National grids would also pave way for the all states grids to be interconnected with the grids of contiguous states.

He stated that, “It is unfortunate and embarrassing to the country on the  continued collapsing of national grids as the country with over 300 million people cannot generate adequate power to the people.

He added, “And if we are to move forward economically, all efforts must be geared towards changing this situation in order to advance the needs and socio economic development of Nigeria. Most of our power machines at generations and distributions levels  are obsolete and required urgent  replacement in order to avoid this further embarrassment.

“Apart from this, the reported cases of vandalisation of our grids by terrorists and bandits had continued to affect power generation and distribution which hirtherto if not addressed would not  help us in the nation’s bid to boost her economy for growth.”

While calling for the institution of effective security monitoring of energy infrastructure, the former presidential aide said that, the installation of cameras and sensors would effectively send out signals before damages of theft of energy supply component are done.