Uninterrupted Electricity Impossible In Nigeria — Nigeria's Former Power Minister Chinedu Nebo

Nigerian Former Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, says it is impossible to provide constant, uninterrupted electricity to everyone in Nigeria in the near future.

Speaking with newsmen in London recently, the minister said: “Nobody in the world can provide 24/7 electricity everywhere in Nigeria”, adding that 160,000 megawatts would be needed to do that. The current capacity is 4,500 megawatts.

“The cost of providing electricity per megawatt on average is $2billion. To get to where South Africa is, you will need about $3.2trillion (about N672trillion). Where will you find that kind of money?” he asked.

In addition to the huge amount of money involved, Prof. Nebo said power projects also take time to come to fruition, stressing that it takes between four and six years to deliver the power projects.
“You don’t buy these things off the shelves. It takes time to design, study, procure, manufacture, install and commission”, he said, but explained that the government had done so much on generation capacity, transmission and distribution infrastructure, which are key necessities in power supply.

He said 20,000 megawatts was needed to ensure constant power supply to major cities in the country that have been connected to the national grid, but said it would require a lot of resources and time to achieve the feat. The minister further said the current facilities and infrastructure on the ground had the capacity to provide more than 5,000 megawatts in the country, but lamented that some saboteurs were bent on ensuring that the target is not achieved by vandalising gas pipelines on a regular basis.

He emphasised that the demand for electricity in Nigeria is so huge that “no matter what you do, once electricity gets to a place, people acquire more facilities, buy refrigerators and air-conditioners, and before you know it, what you think is enough for everyone has to be shared by so many people”.

He also said solar power could go a long way in solving Nigeria’s power problems, especially in the rural areas, disclosing that three communities, including Durumi in the suburbs of Abuja, have enjoyed 13 months of uninterrupted electricity since the start of the pilot scheme in December 2013.

[Source]