‘Why government should deploy more IPP projects’

To ensure uninterrupted power supply in the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Uche Orji, has inaugurated CETPower, an Independent power plant with over 5.8MW capacity in the hospital.

Orji, who commissioned the plant on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, said: “Under the stewardship of the president, we have established, through PPP, the first Independent Power Plant with over 5MW capacity in LUTH, the first of its kind in any Federal Tertiary Hospital nation-wide.

“We are powering the entire LUTH community, which is a size of a village. The capacity of the plant can power a small community, ensuring 24 hours power supply.

“We are solving power problem; this is one of the ways of making our investment possible. The bold steps of the president led to the commissioning of the treatment centre and the power plant”.

In 20I6, NSIA entered into a partnership management with the Lagos University teaching Hospital (LUTH), to build the power plant and develop a world class Cancer treatment Centre, serving as the principal financial investor while LUTH contributed its real estate.

Speaking on the power plant, Head, business development, CET Power project Ltd, Tade Adeyeye, said the hospital can’t afford to have a world class cancer centre without electricity.

“Since we provide power supply, we are encouraging the NSIA and Federal Government to embark on this huge project, having invested millions of dollars in the cancer equipment. Running it without power of this capacity will not make it achieve its purpose. Because we have run this plant for almost two years, it gives them more confidence in running the treatment centre. CET Power is open to doing more of this.”

Tade who is also the MD, Mainland Power, said, “Power is a driving force when it comes to economic development. If you are short of power, the economy will struggle because industries depend on the supply. I believe based on our peculiar nature as a nation, the solution is to look at small units of power.