13 May 2014, Abuja – Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has said that about 30 million households in Nigeria are still without access to electricity.
Nebo, who made the remarks at the sidelines of a forum organised by the Ministry in conjunction with the Standard Bank Group, at the ongoing 2014 World Economic Forum for Africa in Abuja, noted that there is huge investment potentials in the nation’s power sector.
Expressing optimism that through the ongoing power sector reform Nigeria would achieve this feat by connecting an average of 1.5 million households every year, the minister said the country is hoping to achieve up to 75 per cent access to electricity by the year 2020.
Nigeria, according to him, needs to quadruple its 4000MW generation capacity to meet the huge demand for electricity in the country.
He said, “In Nigeria, access to electricity is way below 50 percent with about 30 million Nigerians households without electricity. I think it is important to mention all these, so that we begin to see why Nigeria is a veritable location for investment in the electricity sector.”
He said the demand for energy in Nigeria is so huge that the country needs quadruple its current generation of 4000MW, to service its teeming population of 170 million people.
Nebo, who lamented Nigeria’s overdependence on gas for electricity supply, reiterated the need to encourage a robust energy mix, in form of development of coal to power, solar, wind, biomass among other sources.
“Our target is to achieve up to 75 per cent access to electricity by the year 2020, and by connecting an average of 1.5 million households every year.
“We will do that, the ongoing reform of the power sector will improve access through grid extension, and non-grid solutions using renewable energy which includes solar, wind, bio-mass, small and medium hydros are already on going. 70 per cent are thermal, gas-fired turbines and then the rest hydro.
We need the coal, we need renewable energy, we need more hydros, we need solar, wind, we need bio-mass and all these are very critical”
He stated that although Nigeria sits on the eight largest gas deposits in the whole world, it cannot continue to generate most of its electricity by gas, stressing that the economics does not favour gas dependent.
The minister noted that apart from the economic implications, the acts of vandalism of the gas pipelines have made dependent on gas not very reliable.
Nebo stated further that the privatisation process aims at solving several years of neglect because for many decades as the population grew there was no corresponding development of infrastructure in the electricity sector.
He added that if the power situation is fixed, the GDP rate may grow to a double digit from 6.5 percent yearly average, and issues of unemployment and poor industrialisation would be addressed.
In his contribution, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Amb. Godknows Igali, assured that current power supply situation in the country will improve in the next few months through an incremental process.
Igali, who was responding to questions raised, said, “We are expecting improvement in the next few months. It will be incremental as it will be improving on daily basis.”
– Vanguard
Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has said that about 30 million households in Nigeria are still without access to electricity.
Nebo, who made the remarks at the sidelines of a forum organised by the Ministry in conjunction with the Standard Bank Group, at the ongoing 2014 World Economic Forum for Africa in Abuja, noted that there is huge investment potentials in the nation’s power sector.
– See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/05/30m-households-lack-access-electricity-nebo/#sthash.rKHKtjCv.dpuf
Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has said that about 30 million households in Nigeria are still without access to electricity.
Nebo, who made the remarks at the sidelines of a forum organised by the Ministry in conjunction with the Standard Bank Group, at the ongoing 2014 World Economic Forum for Africa in Abuja, noted that there is huge investment potentials in the nation’s power sector.
– See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/05/30m-households-lack-access-electricity-nebo/#sthash.rKHKtjCv.dpuf
Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has said that about 30 million households in Nigeria are still without access to electricity.
Nebo, who made the remarks at the sidelines of a forum organised by the Ministry in conjunction with the Standard Bank Group, at the ongoing 2014 World Economic Forum for Africa in Abuja, noted that there is huge investment potentials in the nation’s power sector.
– See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/05/30m-households-lack-access-electricity-nebo/#sthash.rKHKtjCv.dpuf
Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has said that about 30 million households in Nigeria are still without access to electricity.
Nebo, who made the remarks at the sidelines of a forum organised by the Ministry in conjunction with the Standard Bank Group, at the ongoing 2014 World Economic Forum for Africa in Abuja, noted that there is huge investment potentials in the nation’s power sector.
– See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/05/30m-households-lack-access-electricity-nebo/#sthash.rKHKtjCv.dpuf
Vanguard