By Dipo Olowookere
Senate President, Mr Bukola Saraki, on Wednesday, promised that the National Assembly will take another look into the existing laws in the country relating to energy.
Mr Saraki made this promise in Germany after inspecting the project in the energy self-sufficient village of Feldheim located 70 kilometres outside Berlin.
Feldheim is a community which produces safe, local, economic and ecological supply of heat and electricity organised by and under the responsibility of the citizens’ independent from the grids of conventional power utility companies.
It has a population of 140 people and hosts about 4,000 visitors yearly comprising students, politicians, researchers, scholars and journalists who want to learn about how the people’s efforts led to the generation of 10mw of electricity, from which they sell the excess to the national power grid.
The Senate President said the expected amendment would be geared towards achieving similar feat in Nigeria.
According to the country’s number three citizen, the National Assembly will amend the laws on power generation, transmission and distribution to solve Nigeria’s energy crisis.
He pointed out that the issue of power supply remains top in the agenda of the Senate as it was a key instrument for eradicating poverty and unleashing the potentials of the people.
“We have to amend the laws to allow communities to generate energy that is more than 10 megawatts and even the laws about power transmission and distribution have to be amended to allow more creativity and involvement from the private sector,” he said.
Mr Saraki emphasised that the achievement of the Germans was possible in Nigeria if only the leadership and the operators could be serious and demonstrate the will power.
“That is why we had a workshop on the sector last month. It is also why we are here to see the experiment and success of the people of Feldheim and see what our people can learn from it,” he said.
Adedapo Adesanya