In his recent inaugural lecture at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Professor Osadolor Odia, a renowned expert in Energy and Power Engineering, urged the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to declare a state of emergency in Nigeria’s power sector to address the nation’s energy deficiency.
Highlighting Nigeria’s dire situation in terms of power availability, Professor Odia emphasized that the country tops the list of nations in Africa with the longest annual outage duration, with approximately 4,600 hours of outage. He stressed that no nation can achieve significant development without adequate electricity supply, especially considering Nigeria’s dismal ranking as the worst country globally in terms of access to electricity.
Professor Odia proposed several measures to alleviate the energy crisis, including repealing the privatization of the distribution sector and implementing a prepaid metering system monitored through remote modular connectivity. He also advocated for the decentralization of transmission and significant investment in generation capacity, aiming for at least 60,000MW to meet current demands.
Acting Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Asomwan Adagbonyin, echoed the urgency of addressing Nigeria’s energy challenges, emphasizing the importance of constant energy supply for industrial development. He commended Professor Odia’s lecture for addressing national growth amidst energy deficiency and providing recommendations to overcome the crisis while highlighting the potential environmental and human impacts of unchecked energy exploitation.