From Tony Osauzo, Benin
Edo State-born business mogul, Dr. Ceasar Osaheni Iyayi, yesterday, canvassed the urgent need for President Muhammadu Buhari to synergise with the 36 state governors to come out with strategies to industrialise the country, saying that Nigeria occupies the centrepiece on how to indstrialise Africa.
Speaking to journalists in Benin City ahead of public presentation of his book titled “The ABC of how to Industrialise Nigeria”, Iyayi identified electricity as a key requirement. “If we want to industrialise, we must have electricity, we do not have it. But we can have in nine months in clusters”. To achieve this, he called on the Federal Government to authorise Nigerian entrepreneurs to use the gas being flared free to set industries to create employment for the army of the unemployed in the country, stressing that “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.
Iyayi while recalling that the developed world has set 2040 to phase out the use of fossil fuel, warned the country not to wait to be caught off guard, saying that Africa has 18 years to start doing something adding “if we wait for 2040, it will be too late”.