- The World Bank has projected that Nigeria would need about US $100 billion in the next 10 years to tackle the power crisis which can be achieved through private sector participation.
Nigeria has been struggling with a power deficit, despite several efforts by the Federal government since 1999. Recently, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) announced that effective from July 1, 2022, the nation’s power sector would improve with commitments from participants in contracts to ensure the generation, transmission and distribution of 5000 megawatts (MW) of electricity in the country.
Meanwhile the World Bank, has projected that Nigeria would need about the US $100 billion in the next 10 years to tackle the power crisis which can be achieved through private sector participation. The statement was made by World Bank’s Regional Director for Infrastructure, Africa West and East of the global bank, Ashish Khanna, who spoke at a programme organized by The Electricity Hub, a Think Tank. The lack of electricity in Nigeria he said led to about a four percent loss of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while Ghana already has 85 percent electricity access and Senegal was on its way to achieving 100 per cent access by 2025. Any breakthrough in the issue can be gained only by solving the issues of subsidy, gas-to-power as well as energy access and by promoting private sector participation. Only then, Nigeria can move from less than 50 per cent access to universal energy provision. He also observed that, if the government gets the distribution side of the industry right, the private sector would be willing to come in.
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In his comments, the Minister of Power, Mr. Abubakar Aliyu, assured that the government was giving priority to the development of the sector especially on infrastructure from generation to transmission and distribution as well as the interfaces with gas producers. The Minister Aliyu said that the Siemens project was expected to take generation to 25,000 megawatts by 2025.
