· Power Generation Ratio Per Person in U.S.: 2,889 Watts; S/Africa: 1,046; Nigeria: 30 Watts
Having failed to provide power supply to Nigerians as promised severally the Federal Government has resorted to the deployment of renewable energy as alternative power source in the country.
Minister of power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo who disclosed this last week in Lagos said, “Within the nest 12-24 months, there is going to be revolution with regards to application and deployment to renewable energy and it is going to be mostly solar
Government’s promises to ensure uninterrupted supply of power over time has been made impossible by unreliable transmission infrastructure, access to uninterrupted gas supply and untimely settlement of invoiced payments.
Nebo who was speaking at an event organized by the West African Power Industry Convention (WAPIC) at Eko Hotels, in Lagos said “The environment for investors is very welcoming and very attractive, that is why so many companies have come to invest”.
The Minister also emphasized the vast economic potentials on renewable energy especially solar in the country posited that the Federal Government was supporting all effort to create the awareness of this form of energy and were out to connect the rural communities who were not connected to the national grid with the form of energy.
He further stated that the sector needed the right amount of capital, and well planned strategic distribution and transaction networks to make sure that all the independent power plants (IPPs) that are coming on board have conducive avenues for operations.
The Minister said that the issue with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) would soon be resolved in that the Ministry “is trying to formulate a framework for privatization, it might go in a form of concessioning or outright privatization but we need to strategize in order to do that.”
Recall that the country had suffered greatly under the grueling epileptic power source from the hydro power and the government had made so many failed promises towards the stability of power supply in the country.
Recently, the Minister promised that the country would experience stable power supply from the month of October but the promise has since remained a mirage. This promise followed a series of failed promises made by different administrations both Military and Civilian to stabilize power supply in the country.
President Obasanjo sunk over $13b into power generation project designed to increase the output by 10, 000mw by 2007 which never came. He brought back the megawatts to 6000 and shifted the date to 2009, and told Nigerians to expect steady power supply, it never came to be.
The present Vice President Nnamdi Sambo in May of 2013 in Canada promised that the Federal Government was injecting $3.7bn to improve power generation to 20, 000 mw but no feat has been achieved in that area.
Nigerians are left to wonder why in 2007, President Obasanjo failed to achieve 10,000mw with $13bn and in 2013, Vice president Sambo was promising 20, 000mw with $3.7b.
The Federal Government has said now that it would revolutionize the power sector within the next 12-24 months and Nigerians are yet to see if it would not be another failed promise.
Granted, there had been efforts at solving the problems of power in the country, but these efforts are very little compared to the hype of the promise.
According to a recent research and study by Prof. of American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, Prof. Udo Jacob Udo; the power generated in the United States per person stood at 2,889watts and that of South Africa stood at 1,046 watts while that of Nigeria stood at 30 watts per person.
