We’re targeting 10,000MW of electricity from $3bn interventions - FG

The Federal Government, yesterday in Abuja, said 10 Gigawatts (10,000MW) of electricity is feasible from an investment of $3 billion being made in the power sector.

The prevailing situation of the nation’s power sector has rendered most of the previous projections by political actors a mere lips service as the country’s current transmitted electricity only stands below 5,000 megawatts. By projections, Nigeria should be generating 40,000 megawatts while a plan indicated leapfrog to 30 gigawatts by 2030.

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo however told stakeholders at a conference organised by the Nigerian Association for Energy Economics (NAEE) that bottlenecks are being addressed while noting that accelerated investment in transmission and distribution of over $3 billion will put Nigeria on a path to 10GW of electricity.

According to him, the fund is being provided as interventions from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Siemens partnership, World Bank and African Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). French Development Agency and others.

Represented by the Special Adviser to the President on Infrastructure, Ahmad Zakari, Osinbajo said: “We need more electricity for our large population, that is why this administration continues to invest in expanding generation to cater for our current and future needs. The Okpai ph II plant, the Afam III fast power plant, the Zungeru Hydro plant, and the Kashimbilla Hydro plant will add more than 1000MW of capacity in both gas and renewable segments.

“This administration has transformed the Rural Electrification Agency into a renewable energy-driven organisation with Solar power at its heart, the five million Solar Connections Program – Solar Power Naija aims to electrify 25 million citizens through the private sector and public-private partnerships and is the largest off-grid connections program in Africa.”

He noted that the $2.6 billion Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline would address gas constraints, adding that the NLNG train seven project would lead to an increase in capacity of up to 30 per cent and keep Nigeria at the forefront in Liquified Natural Gas globally

According to him, the completion of the OB3 line in 2021 would strengthen Nigeria’s position as the sixth-largest gas country and ninth in gas export.

With growing poverty level and escalating population growth amidst widening energy poverty, President, Nigerian Association for Energy Economics, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe said Nigeria had not only epitomised the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty in the energy sector, but also has the strange revenue-draining paradox of being both a major exporter of crude oil and a major importer of petroleum products which are subsidized at a cost that the nation cannot afford.

Omorogbe, who was once the Chairperson of the Legal and Regulatory sub-committee of the Oil and Gas Sector Reform Implementation Committee, which drafted and submitted the first PIB to the National Assembly in 2008, said there won’t be an alternative to a total reform of the Nigerian oil industry if the country would ever realise the full potential of the industry.

“Whilst we have been stalling on petroleum industry reform, several new producers have emerged. A notable example is Ghana, which began producing oil in 2010 and is now producing nearly 200,00 barrels in 2021.

“We cannot be the country that remains frozen in debilitating discussions on whether or not a Bill that will provide a new legal framework for the petroleum industry must pass or not because of controversial clauses that can be amended,” she noted.

Omorogbe urged the country to focus on the actual contents of the bill and not on interpretations that were not always supported by fact.

Omorogbe noted that there are so many questions that needed to be dealt with in any serious discussions on the PIB, stressing that all discussions must be premised against the knowledge that the country must commence reform of the sector.