Kano Chapter, Manufacture Association of Nigeria (MAN), over the weekend revealed that its members lost over N500 Million during the 12 days power outage that rocked seven states in the North.
Sani Husseini Saleh, the local chairman of the Apex body of manufacturers in an exclusive interview with Sunday Independent explained that the figures are conservative estimates, stressing that stocks are being taken to ascertain the actual loss.
Mr. Husseini Sale described the outage as “devastating, and horrendous”, pointing out that “12 days is a very long day for manufacturers, we have never experienced something of this nature.”
He revealed that “we are consuming diesel of N5m to N20m a day, but if you put together the sum total multiplied by the total number of industries you see that the figure is huge.”
Sale further disclosed that “factory workers were laid off during the period in question, factory owners who could afford parted with 1/4 of the salary, while the struggling ones directed their workers to wait for the situation to normalize.”
He said: “We are looking for alternatives, like hydro, renewable energy, and wind turbines to cut our over reliance on the national grid.”
The MAN local boss therefore appealed to the Federal Government to expedite action on the Ajaokuta, Kaduna, Kano (AKK) gas pipelines to enable the few factories left to survive.
“AKK gas pipeline is the only hope of our survival, because most of our counterparts in the south no longer use the national grid , they rely on LNG, CNG for their energy needs,” Sani Husseini Saleh said.
On its part, the Kano State government said the obstruction and breakdown of services and the power outage inflicted on critical sectors including healthcare facilities, educational and financial institutions not only crippled revenue generation, but visited significant economic loss worth billions of naira in Kano.
Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf who spoke in his office when he received in audience, the visiting Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, lamented that the outage of electricity supply as a result of the nefarious activities of vandals on the critical national infrastructure along the Shiroro-Mando 330kV line corridor has brought set back to life and livelihood in the state.
Yusuf emphasised the impact of the energy cut was highly devastating in Kano because of its extreme distance to National Grid, added that the little voltage supply is mostly being limited by fluctuation.
Represented by Chief of Staff, Alhaji Shehu Wada Sagagi, the governor appealed to the minister to ensure Kano get additional Megawatts, to complement its present allocation to solve energy deficit in the state.
(Independent.ng)
