By Victor Agi

A professor of electrical and electronics engineering, Covenant University, Ota, has called on tertiary institutions in the country to assist in tackling the many challenges bedevilling electricity supply in the country.

This was contained in a public lecture delivered at the institution recently to address some of the challenges facing the sector to ensure effective and efficient supply of power in the society.

In his lecture titled: “Nigeria Electricity Industry: Issues, Challenges and Solutions”, Claudius Awosope, noted that, “Electricity supply is a very sensitive issue with several political and economic sophistications in many countries.”

He explained that the importance of this sector as a matter of fact in our society has become a veritable avenue to gaining more votes during elections, as any politician who promises to tackle the issues of unavailability of power supply, suddenly becomes a national hero.

In his lecture, he stressed that the appalling maintenance culture of electricity equipments in Nigeria constitute a bane to the effectiveness of the industry and should be of paramount national interest

He therefore called on tertiary institutions and other necessary agency to help resolve these challenges. His words: “Since virtually all universities and polytechnics in Nigeria are currently running accredited electrical engineering programmes; there is no reason these institutions cannot be asked to find solutions to these electricity problems.”

He recommended among other things good maintenance culture as a panacea for sustainable growth; “the magnitude of electricity Nigeria needs can only be achieved when the stakeholders in the electricity industry in Nigeria take into account the importance of good maintenance.