Nigerian Government to increase electricity supply

Barth Nnaji, Minister of Power,

Nigerian Government to increase electricity supply

The Nigerian Government is planning to increase electricity supply in nine key economic cities as part of the move to encourage Foreign Direct Investment in the country.

This was made known by the Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji, at a press conference to mark 50 years of capital market regulation in Nigeria, organised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

Nnaji commended the commission in its quest at encouraging investment in power and other sectors of the economy.

The cities

The cities are Lagos, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Kano, Kaduna, Enugu and Aba.

Professor Nnaji noted that the country had made tremendous progress in the area of electricity generation having achieved 4,000 megawatts.

He, however, declared that this did not call for celebration considering the population of Nigeria and the fact that some countries in the West African sub region could boast of higher megawatts.

In his words: “Nigeria has moved from 2,500 mega watts to N4,000 mega watts. This is nothing to celebrate when we compare this with what is generated in South Africa, Brazil , China , USA, and other developed countries.”

Reduction of government’s stake

Nnaji pointed out that about 50 billion dollars worth of investment was needed from investors to reactivate the power sector.

The minister explained that the various investments going on in the sector were aimed at improving electricity generation.

According to him, although the Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a road map towards building the power sector as contained in its transformation programme, lack of maintenance in our plants, under investment in power, no clear vision, amongst other factor have affected the project negatively.

He stated further that Nigerians must have ability to pay for power supply as government will reduce its stake in the sector, while providing enabling environment for business to thrive.

Nnaji said: “The generation and distribution of power are going to be privatized so people should be ready to pay even though government will provide subsidy in the interim. In that way, the investors who will invest in the distribution and transmission of power can be able to pay for the power they purchase.”

He explained that the government would reduce investmentpower generation but increase in transmission in the interim.

“We will encourage the state government and private sector to participate in the power sector. Any person can develop power plant, so it will no longer be Nigerian government monopoly”, he said.

“We are going to increase power supply in some key economic areas of the country so that within a short period there will be a significant improvement, which will enhance production activity”, added Nnaji.

NP/Adekusibe/Williams