An Electrical Engineer, Toyese Oyerinde, has told the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, to exploit the huge deposits of marble in Igbeti, Olorunsogo Local Government Area to generate electricity.
The Electrical Engineer made the suggestion in an interview he granted the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Saturday.
Oyerinde said that President Bola Tinubu has significantly provided electricity for Nigerians by removing power generation from the Exclusive List.
He said that the amendment of the Electricity Regulatory Act by the President has allowed states to also generate, distribute, and transmit electricity.
According to him, if the over 25km land stretch of marble deposit in Igbeti town is subjected to further scrutiny, it can be used to generate electricity not only for Oyo State, but also for Nigeria.
Oyerinde said: “You see, what is called marble is just the exposure of the limestone to the atmospheric pressure and all you need to do is to break the components of the marble and remove the limestone.
“Then, combine the limestone with coal, the gas generated could be piped to the gas turbine to produce electricity.
“Also, the limestone that was broken down in the process could be used to manufacture cement and it would be of high quality.”
Equally, the Electrical Engineer expressed sadness that waste generation had become a menace in the state rather than being a blessing.
Oyerinde said that it was a well known fact that waste could be converted to generate power.
He said: “Oyo State is next to Kano when it comes to availability of manmade dams, but they are not thinking of utilising those facilities located in Alabata in Ibadan, Okeogun, and Eruwa.
“For instance, the dam at Alabata in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State has two million generating capacity.
“The old Western Region government of Awolowo saw the need to put a power generating system in place and built one Arstol turbine at the state secretariat to provide electricity for Bodija and secretariat, but the project has remained abandoned till date.
“Even if the current government has done something, it has no effect yet.
“I would have expected that Governor Makinde would generate power and ask the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) to remove the entire Old and New Bodija, which are now commercial centres, from its power distribution.
“Today, it is sad that the state government has sold most of those lands with water around them to real estate agents.”
Also Nigeria’s former envoy to the Philippines, Dr. Yemi Faronbi, suggested that the country could adopt multiple approaches in solving the epileptic power problem.
Faronbi argued that Philippine was able to resolve its electricity problem within four years through multiple generation approaches.
He further said that a combination of hydroelectricity, coal, gas, solar, wind farms, and so on might be the permanent solution to Nigeria’s power problem.
He said: “Many countries such as United States of America, South Africa, and others still generate electricity from coal.
