KEY POINTS
- Adedeji Adeleke said his company provides 15% of Nigeria’s power requirement.
- He is building a 1,250MW power plant to be the biggest in Nigeria and indeed the entire West Africa sub-region.
- It was quite a challenge but prayer saw the project through and the necessary approval granted.
Billionaire entrepreneur Dr. Adedeji Adeleke, whose son is a Nigerian musician ‘Davido’, said his companies currently produce 15% of the Nigerian power output.
Adeleke revealed this during the Seventh-Day Adventist Church’s General Conference Annual Council meeting 2024 on Tuesday.
Adeleke also revealed that he is in the last phase of the construction of a 1,250MW power plant which will be the biggest thermal power plant in the country. It is anticipated that the project will be implemented by January 2025.
Challenges and divine intervention
However, Adeleke, the creator of the ongoing project, stated that he had encountered some challenges on the project. He recalled that a government official who was not named said that he would not allow the construction of the power plant to be completed and the permit would not be issued due to environmental impact.
As if his dream would never be realized, the official told Adeleke to his face that his project would never materialize. ‘However, I was quite aware that he had the last say, but not the final word because God will have the final say’, said Adeleke.
The billionaire businessman gave thanks to the almighty and continous prayers for the project as he was able to secure the permit from the then Minister of Power for the project.
He admitted that the project estimated to cost $2 billion had earlier called for a lot of money to be spent on design and preliminaries before the green light was given.
The future of power in Nigeria
According to Vanguard, Some of Adeleke’s power projects, including the new 1,250-megawatt plant, are among his contributions to the Nigerian energy sector. He thanked the Almighty for the initiative to remove the bureaucratic restraints noting that the new plant will greatly improve Nigeria’s power generation.
