As Nigerians continue to grapple with power outages Adedeji Adeleke the father of popular Afrobeats singer Davido, has revealed how Nigeria government officials tried to frustrate his efforts at adding 1,250-megawatt to the national grid.
Mr. Adeleke who was speaking during the Seventh Day Adventist General Conference Annual Council Tuesday, in Maryland, USA told his audience that the power plant worth over $2 billion will finally kick off January 2025.
He narrated: “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 officials 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.”
“So I left, disappointed and I told my Chinese friends that unfortunately we have difficulties, and this project is going to stall. Meanwhile, the project is worth about $2 billion. In the process, a lot of money had already gone into the design and preliminaries.
“Before we get to the stage where we would need a permit and then break ground. So my Chinese friend was worried because the Afrexim Bank of China was involved so that meant bankruptcy for him. I told him not to worry,” he said.
He said the project finally got under way after it was approved by a former Minister of Power who saw the merit in constructing the power plant.
