Adedeji Adeleke, the father of popular singer Davido, has shared the challenges he faced while securing a permit for his $2 billion power plant project in Nigeria.
Beyond Boders reports that Adeleke, a billionaire businessman, spoke during the Seventh Day Adventist General Conference in Maryland, USA.
He explained that getting the environmental permit was difficult because some government officials blocked the process. One official even told him that the project would never succeed.
Adeleke, who owns Pacific Energy, said the project involves Chinese companies and will provide about 15% of Nigeria’s electricity when finished in January 2025.
“During the course of the design and getting the permit, we ran into difficult government officials. For environmental reasons, our permit was denied, and the particular government officials that I held a meeting with told me to my face that my project would never see the light of the day. But while he was saying that, I was saying in my mind that this guy is talking as if he is God. I was saying in my mind that God should listen to him; Because he is not God, whatever he is saying is null and void,” Adeleke said.
Despite the setback, Adeleke prayed and stayed hopeful. His Chinese partners were concerned as they had already invested a lot of money. But eventually, the then Minister of Power approved the project, seeing its importance.
Earlier in 2023, Adeleke had talked about this project at the 9th graduation of Adeleke University in Osun State.
Watch video below for further details:
I generate 15% of the electric power consumed by Nigeria; I am building the biggest thermal power plant in Nigeria to be launched in January 2025 — Davido’s dad, Dr Deji Adeleke
pic.twitter.com/ifL3tVL9ci— Instablog9ja (@instablog9ja) October 16, 2024
