The Lagos State Government says it is committed to the generation of adequate electricity for residents and other end-users in the state.
The Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr Taofiq Tijani, gave the assurance in a statement on Saturday in Ikeja following the deregulation of the country’s power sector by the Federal Government.
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had on March 19 announced the? deregulation of the sector via two new regulations.
They were the ''NERC Regulation on Embedded Generation 2012,” and the “NERC Regulation for Independent Electricity Distribution.”
The move was to pave the way for states and local councils to also generate and distribute electricity.
Tijani said that two power projects had been inaugurated at Akute and the Lagos Island towards providing electricity for the people.
“The state government is committed to meeting the ever-growing demand for energy by Lagosians.
“Apart from the two power projects, arrangements have been concluded for the inauguration of the Alausa Power Project.
“The government is also planning to replicate captive power plants across the state.”
Captive plants are plants set up by individuals, companies and institutions to generate electricity primarily for their own use.
Tijani said the creation of the ministry by Gov. Babatunde Fashola was part of efforts to meet the power needs of residents and explore the hydrocarbon, oil and gas potentialities of the state.
“All these initiatives are targeted at making Lagos the leading state in oil and gas production in the country.”
Tijani also promised that the state’s huge mineral deposits would be harnessed to create more job opportunities and increase the revenue capacity of the state.
“We are not going to concentrate on oil and gas projects, but also concentrate on the state’s enormous economic potentialities in particularly its mineral resources.”
The commissioner announced that the ministry would soon embark on mass enlightenment of residents on the need to use the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (domestic gas) being piped into homes in the state.
According to Tijani, it has a lot of advantages over other sources of energy.?
