By News Desk
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar said his policy document will lead Nigeria out of darkness when elected president in 2023.
This is coming 24 hours after the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) suspended strike for two weeks.
The union’s strike on Wednesday left Nigeria in darkness after it shut down power stations over welfare issues.
Atiku in a statement, Thursday, also revealed that he has no interest either directly or indirectly in any generator company.
The statement partly read: “Having keenly observed and monitored developments in the power sector within the last 24 hours, my policy document titled My Covenant with Nigerians, remains the most proactive plan to lead Nigeria out of darkness.
“In this regard, my approach is to first remove the entire electricity value chain from the exclusive list and give states the power to generate, transmit and distribute electricity for themselves. An industrial dispute with the FG in Abuja should not affect an industry in Lagos or a factory in Aba or in Kano or even an average Nigerian who just wants to get home, watch the news and sleep under a ceiling fan.
“Secondly, my policy shall aim at achieving greater coordination of investments in the entire electricity value chain. Investments in additional generation capacity are futile without consideration for the complementary transmission and distribution infrastructure to wheel the additional energy.
“Any investment in additional generation capacity would be competitively procured considering a viable mix of renewable (hydro, solar, wind and biofuels) and non-renewable (coal, gas) options for energy security”.
“Thirdly, ahead of procuring additional generation, both transmission and distribution capacities would be enhanced with government and private sector support for investments.”
