Fashola switches on 8.5 megawatts Lekki Peninsula IPP

Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, on Sunday switched on 8.5 megawatts Peninsula Integrated Power Project (PIPP), bringing to five the number of such power projects in the state in five years.

The project is in partnership with PIPP and Heritage Bank, and would serve Lagos State public water corporations in Lekki Phase 1, Oniru, Victoria Island and Ikoyi, as well as over 25km of public lightening in the Lekki axis. Fashola at the switch on ceremony said he felt fulfilled with the conduct of youths that delivered the project, despite the difficulties in getting to the finishing point, adding that the money to improve the Nigerian economy is here, “since we don’t need the World Bank to come and do this for us.”

“So, let no one say that he has no money to deliver power for the entire country. This is the limit to which the law allows us to do, but we have done this to make a statement that power can be generated. So, when they come with lies that power is impossible, you can tell them that we have power here; we make it possible. “Let the Eko Discos sign a contract with me, giving part of their concessioning to the state government, in about six to eight months, there will be power in all homes in Lagos State,” Fashola said.

Damilola Ogunbiyi, the general manager of the Lagos State Electricity Board, said the state had shown that reliable and sustainable power projects are possible through the youths. Ogunbiyi said though it had been a successful story, the state was just scratching the surface in its “aggressive development plan” in the area of power.

Promoter of the project, Faruk Agoro, noted that the new IPP was an innovative idea of world-class natural gas-fired power generating facility, sold to the government by youths and it was bought into to support government institutions, especially in the area of water supply and security.