ADEDEJI Adeleke, the father of famous singer David Adeleke, popularly called Davido, has revealed that he generates about 15 per cent of the electricity consumed in Nigeria.
According to Punch Newspaper, Adeleke, a renowned industrialist, revealed this while speaking as a layperson at the West-Central Africa Division during the Seventh Day Adventist General Conference Annual Council on Tuesday, October 15, in Maryland, United States.
He explained how he faced challenges with Nigerian government officials while working on his $2 billion power firm and had to run to God for intervention.
“I am a businessman in Nigeria. I’m into the electricity business. I own a power plant, I generate about 15 per cent of the electricity needs for Nigeria. I have Chinese engineering companies that work for me. I’m building the biggest power plant in Nigeria that will be completed in January 2025. It is a 1,250-megawatt power plant.
“During the course of the design and getting the permit, we ran into difficult government officials. For environmental reasons, our permit was denied, and the particular government official that I held a meeting with told me to my face that my project would never see the light of the day.
“But while he was saying that, I was saying in my mind that this guy is talking as if he is God. I was saying in my mind that God should listen to him, because he is not God, whatever he is saying is null and void,” Adeleke stated.
He said he left disappointed and briefed his Chinese friend on the hurdles the company faced, adding that the project could stall despite huge funds already sunk into it.
Adeleke said his Chinese friend was worried because the Afrexim Bank of China was involved in the project, and ending the work abruptly would mean bankruptcy for him.
In September, Nigeria’s power generation reached a three-year high at 5,313 MW according to the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu. This figure is much lower than the 20,000 megawatts of electricity the Federal Government is targeting for 2026.
Since Monday, October 14, the country’s national grid has collapsed, further threatening businesses struggling to survive the nation’s high inflation and floundering economy.
The ICIR reports that the challenges Nigerians faced over fluctuating power supply in 2023 remain as 2024 races to an end.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance