- Dr. Deji Adeleke announced completion of a 1,250MW power plant in Ondo State, pending gas grid connection to begin operations.
- He linked Nigeria’s poor investment climate to electoral fraud and urged credible elections to attract foreign investors and create jobs.
Dr. Deji Adeleke, Pro-Chancellor of Adeleke University and prominent Nigerian businessman, announced on Sunday, July 20, that his 1,250-megawatt power plant in Ajebamidele, Ondo State, has reached full completion. He confirmed that the facility awaits connection to the national gas grid before generating electricity.
“I completed the power plant,” Adeleke stated during Adeleke University’s 11th undergraduate and 7th postgraduate convocation in Ede, Osun State. “I’m ready to supply power but still waiting for gas grid access.”
Meanwhile, he revealed that the project will employ over 2,000 engineers and support workers once it goes live. “This plant will provide jobs for over 2,000 skilled professionals. We didn’t wait for government; we built it to solve a real problem.”
Adeleke emphasised that the project might not have progressed without his business relationships. “If I didn’t secure turbine supply from GE through personal networks, this plant wouldn’t exist. Those jobs wouldn’t exist,” he explained.
Furthermore, he linked the country’s poor investment climate to its compromised electoral system. “When votes don’t count, foreign investors walk away. They don’t trust a system where the people can’t choose their leaders,” he said.
Adeleke also criticised vote-selling and election fraud as serious threats to Nigeria’s economic future. “Nigerians sell their votes and expect good governance. That contradiction pushes investors away and keeps our youth unemployed.”
He urged citizens to demand credible elections to restore global confidence in Nigeria. “If we insist on free and fair elections, the world will respect us. Investors will return. Jobs will follow.”
He pointed to the high number of unemployed graduates due to broken governance. “Graduates who left school four years ago still roam the streets. Why? Because no one is investing. And why? Because our elections lack credibility.”
He concluded by calling for a collective shift in civic behaviour. According to him, Nigeria holds massive potential, but its citizens must start by voting wisely, holding leaders accountable and desisting from selling the country’s future for peanuts.
Adeleke delivered his remarks at the university’s convocation ceremony, where his younger brother, Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, received an honorary doctorate. The university graduated 1,133 students across six faculties and its College of Postgraduate Studies.