Date: 2017-10-16

An indigenous engineer who is also a gas and oil consultant, Engineer Yusuf Aliyu has challenged the Federal Government to consistently embark on massive investment in power generation for some years as a way out of the power crisis the nation is perpetually facing. Alternatively, he also suggested that the federal government can partner and encourage foreign investors to come to Nigeria and build more power plants lamenting that presently, the nation has only about four thousand megawatts which is serving about one hundred and eighty million people.

Engineer Yusuf who retired recently from Shell Petroleum Development Company in Canada , in the United States Of America, made these suggestions in Ilorin , the KWARA state capital while featuring on a Radio KWARA personality interview programme , Playing Host.

The quest said countries like Canada with a population of only thirty six million people have about one hundred and Thirty five thousand megawatts of power generation while South Africa also with about fifty six million population has a generating plant capacity of Forty five thousand megawatts .

According to him , the generation capacity of a nation should grow with the population and the economy of that country adding that the nucleus of any developed nation is on its power generation.

Answering another question, the oil and gas consultant, disclosed that presently, Nigeria has huge oil and gas reserves which stood at thirty seven billion barrels proven reserves of oil and one hundred and ninety trillion cubic feet of gas that can last the nation for another twenty years but said that on its own , does not guarantee prosperity for the nation hence the need to urgently diversify to other sectors.

> He called on the government to look inwards in some of policies particularly in the oil and power sectors so as to turn around the nation's economy stressing that today in the country , the nation only produces about two million barrels per day which he attributed to corruption and neglect and lack of maintenance of our refineries .

Engineer Yusuf cited the case of South Korea that does not have iron and oil resources but that the country today produces one ship per week being the highest producer of ships in the world.

He urged the government to encourage indigenous engineers in the country and condemned the idea whereby non-engineers were appointed to mann portfolios that are engineering related .

Engineer Yusuf commended the present administration under President Muhammadu BUHARI for fighting corruption and tackling insecurity in the country but however charged the government to adequately address the issue of unemployment particularly among the youth.

He urged the KWARA State government to come up with a particular product known as "KWARA Product" so as to mark the state uniqueness in her fifty years of existence more so with all the natural resources the state is blessed with

The consultant who is the Founder of Engineer Yusuf Aliyu Foundation appealed to Nigerians to have passion for politics not majorly to context for elective positions but rather have a say and inputs in governance and stressed the need for them to participate in the ongoing voters registration exercise.