An Edo State-born industrialist, Dr Ceasar Osaheni Iyayi, on Tuesday said that for Nigeria to achieve full industrialisation, conscious efforts must be made to make the electricity supply stable in the country.
Iyayi, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to synergize with the 36 state governors to come out with strategies to industrialise the country, stressing that Nigeria occupies the centrepiece on how to industrialise the entire continent of Africa.
Speaking to journalists in Benin City ahead of the public presentation of his book titled “The ABC of how to Industrialise Nigeria”, Dr Iyayi identified electricity as a key requirement in the nation’s drive towards full industrialisation.
“If we want to industrialise, we must have electricity, we do not have it now, but we can have it in nine months in clusters”.
To achieve the feat, Iyayi called on the Federal Government to mandate Nigerian entrepreneurs to use the gas being flared free to set up industries to create employment for the army of the unemployed in the country, stressing “we should put all our energy into manufacturing, using gas.
“The Federal Government and the governors should synergise to bring in LM 2500 that generate between 32-33 megawatts of electricity and connect to where gas is being flared. Each LM 2500 costs $11.3 million”, he said.
Dr Iyayi warned that while the developed world had set 2040 to phase out the use of fossil fuel, Nigeria must not to wait to be caught off guard, adding that Africa had 18 years to start doing something, saying it would be too late “if we wait for 2040”.
According to him, Nigerians are arguably the smartest people on earth who have the sagacity and managerial ability to perform, noting that what is lacking is leadership and therefore stressed that “it is up President Buhari to give the country a direction, insisting that “what other countries cannot do, Nigeria can do it”.
Dr Iyayi pointed out that there is no country in the world that was industrialised by foreigners, insisting that it was not too late for the president and the governors to galvanise the private sector and entrepreneurs, just as he called for the setting up a team to brainstorm on the suggestions contained in his book with a view to implementing them.
He drew attention to the take-over of Delta Steel Company (DSC) by the Indians 15 years ago but noted that they had failed to produce a sheet of iron thereafter because they were protecting their industry at home.
Dr Iyayi also cited what China is currently doing to Hongkong and Taiwan and predicted that in a short while, China would take over Africa in search of new frontiers for its ever-growing population.
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