Managing Director of Liberty Industries Limited, Kamal Abuh, has lamented the lingering power outages in the country, saying that he does not understand why despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s financial interventions in the sector in the last seven years, power supply has not improved.
Abuh, who spoke with The Trumpet in a telephone interview, disclosed that due to the worsening public power supply, the cost of running his small factory continues to rise every month.
He lamented that instead of power to increase from month to month, the reverse is the case, adding: “I am tired of complaining about the erratic power supply in the country. The more investments the government makes in the sector, the worse power supply becomes.
“The cost of powering my small factory has continued to rise month by month. A few years ago, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) commissioned a research to find out how much its members used to power their factories.
“The result said that manufacturers spent an average of 30 per cent of their cost of production on power generation. Currently, power generation gulp as much as 50 per cent of my costs due to the poor power supply and the high cost of diesel and gas, has astronomically shut up the cost of my production. I know I am speaking the views of most other manufacturers.”
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He berated the power generating and distribution companies, stressing that they kept on giving one excuse or the other on why power supply keeps degenerating without showing efforts to change the situation.
Abuh said the past three weeks have been quite challenging due to the poor power supply, adding his firms can’t be buying diesel at about N500 per litre, adding that the government has not done well in the area of power supply.
He also pointed out that the Ukraine and Russia war has impacted negatively on the fortunes of his firm and that the more the war drags on, the tougher the situation local manufacturers will experience.
Abuh said the cost of private power supply has become very much unbelievable for him, adding: “Since the outbreak of the Russia and Ukraine war in late February 2022, the cost of running my factory has tripled due to the escalating cost of diesel and worsening power supply in the country.
He lamented that the war in Ukraine had dealt a big blow on the fortunes of his company, noting: “Diesel that was N 190 or N200 per litre before the outbreak of the war now sells for about N500. Apart from the cost of the diesel, every other imported and locally source of raw materials have all gone up, with suppliers blaming it on the war.”
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