From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (PHACCIMA) and other major players in industry, have called for legislation and guidelines in the power sector to grow the country’s economy.
The stakeholders made the call at the weekend, at the Power to Power Summit, 2022, organised by PHACCIMA and Doris Desmond Nigeria Limited held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
President of PHACCIMA, Mike Elechi, in his address at the third edition of the summit with the theme: Exploiting business opportunities in the power industry, said the power situation in the country needs to be seriously examined.
Elechi explained: “The entire event, its name, timing and content was deliberately planned, as its need and relevance, has become very important in the life of our city, state, region and indeed, country.
“We have carefully identified the need to examine the power situation in Nigeria and come to the conclusion not to sit and dwell and complain about the well known problems, but to identify the solutions and at the same time, turn these solutions into business opportunities. Hence, the incorporation of Power Challenges: Solutions and Resultant Opportunities” as an underlying focus in many or our sessions, workshops and exhibitions.”
According to the PHACCIMA boss, power has been a fundamental challenge confronting the growth of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
He urged: “Consequently, I hereby call upon government at the state and federal levels, to consider legislation and guidelines which allow for more entry into the energy supply sector. Also, to improve the enabling operational environment that will encourage aggregation of existing players, to provide power to businesses and communities.
“Finally, it goes without saying that our economy will benefit tremendously from power improvement and growth. This will positively affect economic growth, GDP, productivity, employment and will have a dramatic effect on the current security situation in our country as people are gainfully engaged.”
Also, the General Chief Executive Officer/Chairman, Oilserve Group, Emeka Okwuosa, in his keynote speech, called for ease of doing business, so that investors could come, exploit and convert the country’s resources to grow the economy.
Okwuosa, who spoke through Mr. Chuka Eze, a director in the company, said Nigeria is among the African countries with huge hydrocarbon endowment, that could develop and extend their power grids to other countries in the continent.
In his goodwill message, Rwandan High Commission to Nigeria Ambassador Stanislas Kamanzi, said for the number of years he lived in the country, he knows what power generation is to the citizens.
He, however, charged the participants to utilize the opportunity they had at the summit and proffer solution to improve the nation’s power sector.