Nigeria’s minister of power, Abubakar Aliyu, has confessed that the country’s power generation status cannot support its growth projections.
While inaugurating the new board of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in Abuja, the minister lamented that currently, Nigeria’s power generation stands 5,000mw, and this has been responsible for the inconsistency country’s power generation.
“As you are all aware, the electricity being delivered is not enough to support the level of our population,” Aliyu said.
Noting that the economy was growing at a higher speed than Nigeria’s electricity supply, Aliyu stated that the country needed to find a way to meet up with the demand.
He challenged them to focus on ensuring the stability of the national grid, and meet the projections of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Last April, Nigeria’s vice president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, said Nigeria needs an additional $410billion above business-as-usual investment to upgrade the country’s power infrastructure.
In a statement issued a virtual event on climate finance themed, Climate Finance and a Just, Equitable Energy Transition for Africa, the vice president stated that Nigeria needs to upgrade its power infrastructure, especially for transmission and distribution, using a strategic mix of grid and minigrid systems.
He hinted that in addition to creating 20 million jobs and rebuilding industries, the federal government intends to add more than 200gw of new power capacity, principally utility-scale solar by 2060.
“Nigeria will require huge investments in new infrastructure. We’re going to build more roads, ports, industrial parks and especially power systems. For every Nigerian to consume the modern energy minimum of 1,000kwh per year by 2050 would require a 15-fold increase in our national power generation.
“We will need to upgrade our power infrastructure, especially for transmission and distribution, using a strategic mix of grid and mini grid systems. To be successful we will need partners.
“The majority of investment in our energy transition will come from our own national resources. But we estimate we need an additional $410 billion above business-as-usual investment to meet our goals.
“If the global energy transition is going to become reality, if we are truly in this climate crisis together, then the priorities of African nations cannot be sidelined. Climate justice must include far greater support for countries with the greatest needs and who contribute the least to global emissions.
“It must include investments, not only to mitigate carbon emissions but also to ensure that developing countries can adapt to the impacts of climate change caused by the rich polluting nations. Climate justice must include ending energy poverty. Anything else would be the opposite of justice,” Osinbajo said.
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