The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has lamented the continuous outage of power in the country, News About Nigeria reports.
He disclosed this in a statement via his verified handle on X on Sunday.
The former Anambra state governor noted that the continued power outages in many parts of the country, particularly in the Northern and Eastern States, as well as South-South states, have remained a cause of grievous concern.
According to him, these states have been facing total blackouts for several days, which is heartbreaking.
Obi also noted that the power outage will negatively impact businesses that depend on power to be sustained.
He, therefore, called on the government to provide a long-lasting solution to the issue of power outages in the country.
He said, “The continued power outages in many parts of the country, particularly in the Northern and Eastern States, as well as South-South states, have remained a cause of grievous concern.
“It is heartbreaking to see that the affected states, majorly in the Northern parts of Nigeria, have been facing a total blackout for several days now.
“The negative impact of the continued power outage on businesses, especially small businesses, who depend primarily on public power supply to sustain their businesses as a means of livelihood, is unimaginable.
“This power crisis, when combined with the present high cost of petroleum products and a harsh operating environment, remains a lethal recipe for widespread business failure and increasing poverty in the country.
“I have consistently maintained that solving Nigeria’s power and energy crisis is not rocket science.
“Many of our comparable peer nations have demonstrated how possible it is to provide sustainable power for their citizens.
“Our African neighbour, Egypt, for example, invested aggressively in their power sector, which resulted in the establishment of a sustainable power infrastructure by way of many power stations. Today, Egypt has revolutionized power and energy production in the country, providing sustainable power to millions of small businesses, which account for over 90% of active enterprises in the country and contributes to over 80 percent of their GDP.
“My sincere thoughts are with everyone enduring these tough times in our nation.
“I call on the government to ramp up efforts and provide both immediate and long-term solutions to this seemingly perennial challenge.”
