Don urges FG to prioritise reliable power supply
A lecturer at the College of Engineering, Covenant University, Ota, Prof. Oluseyi Ajayi, has appealed to the Federal Government to intensify efforts toward providing regular and quality power in the country.
The Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering made the appeal in an interviiew with newsmen on the sideline of the 30th Inaugural Lecture of the institution on Monday.
Ajayi said that improving power supply in the country would help the manufacturing sector to boost their production capacity.
According to him, the manufacturing and other economic sectors will not do well, if there is no sustainable power supply, in terms of quality and quantity.
“It is a known fact that the impact of access to electricity on an economy is enormous.
“There exists a causal relationship between energy access, industrial growth and national development because the supply of quality and sufficient modern energy enhances the growth of industries and aids sustainable industrialisation,’’ he said.
He contended that inadequate power supply, especially from grid-system, in cities and industrial areas, leads to low productivity, unemployment and poor economic growth profile.
Other impacts, he said, included high cost of living, escalating cost of products and under-performing industrial sector.
Ajayi said that over the years, the country’s manufacturing sector suffered greatly from the lack of access to grid-electricity supply.
This development, according to him, has led to major challenges bedevilling the nation’s industries.
“Some industries have wound up production, while others relocated to countries with better power supply.”
He further said that others depended on self-generation from fossil-based fuel resources, thus leading to a crippled economy with the attendant under performing manufacturing sector.
The don also said that the country was not doing well, in terms of export earnings from high value goods, which are products of a viable manufacturing industry.
He said that the majority of the country’s foreign exchange earnings were majorly from export of raw materials, like crude, agro-allied products and solid minerals.
He underscored the need for the Federal Government to redouble its efforts, saying that a country with high energy access was more likely to experience rapid industrialisation, low unemployment and well-developed information and communication industries.
Ajayi opined that modern healthcare services, literacy programme and other sustainable development goals would also do well when there is adequate access to electricity.
