They made the call at the closing of the
3rd Lagos Real Estate Market Place Conference and Exhibition in Lagos, tagged:
“A Town Hall Meeting On The Lagos Real Estate Emerging Markets—Mitigating The
Potential Risks.”
Mr. Eyo Ekpo, Chief Executive Officer of
Extradite Consulting, said the distribution of electricity was a local business
and should be treated as such to allow the retail electricity distribution
business to thrive.
Ekpo said the distribution of electricity
should not be domiciled with the Federal Government but left to the state
governments to handle.
“It is an aberration for nine electricity
distribution companies only to cover the 35 states in the Federation. No
country in the world does so.
“We live in localities, hence electricity
must be localised to foster the desired improvement and growth we desire in the
sector,” he said.
Mr Habeeb Alebiosu, Chief Executive
Officer, of Viathan Engineering Ltd., said that in spite of the activities of
the regulator and distribution companies, not much had changed in the energy
sector.
Alebiosu stated that regulation in the
energy sector should be consumer biased to increase the supply and distribution
of electricity.
Similarly, Mr Chuks Umezulora, Managing
Director, Auxano Solar, demanded the domestication of the supply chain in the
nation’s renewable energy.
Umezulora said governments must put up a
policy that encourages energy-efficient appliances, while practitioners must
think about sustainability in building designs.
Mr Andre Geday, co-founder and Director,
ELALAN Construction Company, said it was no longer sustainable for his company
to spend about N50 million a month on diesel due to the poor performance of
electricity distribution companies.
Geday appealed to the Federal Government to
stabilise the sector to avoid the ripple effects of the expenses incurred by
companies and industries on the end users of goods and services.
For Ms Doseke Akporiaye, Managing Director,
Nigeria Oolu Solar, the Federal Government must work hard to reduce the cost of
importation as it hinders people from acquiring energy devices and solutions.
Ms Owen Inyang, CMO/Co-founder,
Juststandout, said before structures were built, energy should be inculcated at
the planning stage for self sustainability and promotion of green environment.
Mr Muyiwa Akinyemi, Deputy Managing
Director, UBA Group, also said practioners in the real estate sector needed
access to finance.
He charged banks and financial institutions
to focus on Environmental, Social and Governance and ensure risk sharing in
every loan request before granting them. NAN