Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the $3 billion investment being made in the power sector has potential to generate 10,000MW of electricity.
Speaking at a stakeholders conference organised by the Nigerian Association for Energy Economics (NAEE), he said bottlenecks to power generation were being addressed and that accelerated investment in transmission and distribution of over $3 billion will put Nigeria on a path to 10GW of electricity.
The country’s current transmitted electricity is below 5,000 megawatts.
Osinbajo said the fund is being provided as interventions from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Siemens partnership, World Bank and African Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), French Development Agency and others.
Special Adviser to the President on Infrastructure, Ahmad Zakari, who represented him, said: “We need more electricity for our large population, that is why this administration continues to invest in expanding generation to cater for our current and future needs. The Okpai ph II plant, the Afam III fast power plant, the Zungeru Hydro plant, and the Kashimbilla Hydro plant will add more than 1,000MW of capacity in both gas and renewable segments.
“This administration has transformed the Rural Electrification Agency into a renewable energy-driven organisation with Solar power at its heart, the five million Solar Connections Program – Solar Power Naija aims to electrify 25 million citizens through the private sector and public-private partnerships and is the largest off-grid connections program in Africa.”
Osinbajo noted that the $2.6 billion Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano pipeline would address gas constraints, adding that the NLNG train seven project would lead to an increase in capacity of up to 30 per cent and keep Nigeria at the forefront in Liquified Natural Gas globally
According to him, the completion of the OB3 line in 2021 would strengthen Nigeria’s position as the sixth-largest gas country and ninth in gas export.”
President, Nigerian Association for Energy Economics, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe said Nigeria had not only epitomised the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty in the energy sector, but also has the strange revenue-draining paradox of being both a major exporter of crude oil and a major importer of petroleum products which are subsidized at a cost that the nation cannot afford.
Omorogbe said there won’t be an alternative to a total reform of the Nigerian oil industry if the country would ever realise the full potential of the industry.
“Whilst we have been stalling on petroleum industry reform, several new producers have emerged. A notable example is Ghana, which began producing oil in 2010 and is now producing nearly 200,00 barrels in 2021.
“We cannot be the country that remains frozen in debilitating discussions on whether or not a Bill that will provide a new legal framework for the petroleum industry must pass or not because of controversial clauses that can be amended,” she noted.
Omorogbe urged the country to focus on the actual contents of the bill and not on interpretations that were not always supported by fact.
