NIGERIAN billionaire Adedeji Adeleke, who is also the father of popular music artiste Davido, said he is building a 1,250-megawatt thermal power plant, which will also become the biggest thermal power plant in Nigeria.
He said it during the Seventh Day Adventist General Conference Annual Council in Maryland, United States of America, on Tuesday, 15 October.
“I am a businessman in Nigeria. I’m into the electricity business. I own a power plant, I generate about 15 per cent of the electricity needs for Nigeria.
“I am building and almost completed January, by the grace of God, my new power plant to be the biggest thermal plant in Nigeria. It is a 1,250MW power plant to become operational in January,” he said.
CLAIM
Adeleke said he is building the biggest thermal power plant in Nigeria which is 1,250MW
FINDINGS
Findings by The ICIR show that the claim is FALSE.
Nigeria’s power sector has ranked poorly on the global scale. According to the World Bank 2020 Business Report, Nigeria ranks 171 out of 190 countries in getting electricity and electricity access is seen as one of the major constraints for development.
The country has been grappling with persistent power supply challenges for decades. Its generation capacity has consistently fallen short of demand, leading to frequent blackouts and load shedding. The country generates most of its power through hydro, gas and thermal.
Between 2010 and 2022, reports showed the country recorded 222 partial and total power collapses.
On Monday, 14 October, Nigerians were plunged into a nationwide blackout following the collapse of the national grid system. The incident showed that the DisCos were not receiving power from the grid, leaving their feeders without electricity.
Checks by The ICIR indicate that the national grid has collapsed at various times this year. The challenges Nigeria faced over fluctuating power supply in 2023 remain as 2024 races to an end.
Nigeria has two main types of power plants. They are hydroelectric and thermal/fossil fuel power plants.
The ICIR gathered that Egbin Thermal Power Station, located in Lagos, has an installed capacity of 1,320 MW, which is bigger than the proposed 1,250 MW thermal power plant by Adeleke.
However, Adeleke is the group chairman of Pacific Energy Company Limited which owns Olorunsogo Power Plant, Omotosho Power Plant, and Ajebamdele Power Plant.
THE VERDICT
The claim that Adeleke’s about-to-be-launched thermal power plant will be the biggest in Nigeria is FALSE. Publicly available data have shown that Egbin Power Station is the biggest thermal power plant in Nigeria at 1,320MW. This, therefore, means a 1,250MW power plant cannot be said to be the biggest.
Editor’s Note: Picture for illustrative purposes only
•This report is culled from The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (The ICIR).
Eighteen-Eleven Media