Abdallah el-kurebe
26 November 2011, Sweetcrude, Sokoto – Nigeria requires $10 billion to achieve sustainable power generation and distribution in the next 10 years, according to the Commissioner, Government and Consumer Affairs of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Ibrahim Abba.
He stated this at the Power Consumer Assembly forum held in Sokoto, Sokoto State yesterday.
Abba who represented the Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Sam Amadi at the event noted that investment in power was capital intensive, adding that the money needed was much higher than what the federal and state governments would be able to invest.
He said “the Federal Government cannot do it alone if we want a balanced situation in power generation and distribution,’’ adding however that there was ‘’no reason whatsoever for Nigeria to find herself in the current situation of non-availability of power as she has enough resources which can be harnessed to generate electricity.’’
According to him, NERC would involve all state governments to support its initiatives towards investing in the power sector.
Abba observed the need to conserve energy for efficient and effective utilisation. “It is mandatory on us to handle the demand and supply of electricity more efficiently as it is the trend worldwide even where capacity is not an issue, ” he said.
He added that NERC had concluded arrangements for 11 distribution centres for which over 300 companies have expressed their interest in generation, distribution and transmission.
