Nigeria’s Power Sector Faces Bleak Future – APGC Reveals

The Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), Dr. Joy Ogaji, has stated that the ills afflicting the nation’s power sector was overwhelming and may derail it from adding requisite value addition to the economy

Ogaji, in a presentation on ‘Electric Power Infrastructure Perspective of Diversification’ at a recent summit in Lagos painted a gloomy state of the electricity sector where national electricity demand is over 28,700MW with pipeline capacity at over 21,000MW and installed generation capacity at over 13,000MW while only over 8,000MW is available out of which about 5,500MW could be transmitted and only 4,500MW being distributed.

She spoke on the theme of the summit in relation to the electricity industry, saying: “energy plays a pivotal role in economic diversification as its scale of use determines the socio-economic development of any nation capable of solving Nigeria’s problem.”

She said why Nigeria had no choice than to diversify its economy and fix the power sector included the privilege of accounting for over 51% of West Africa’s over 400 million population where its products- services, agriculture, and industries can dominate the sub-region and bring in foreign exchange.

According to her, lack of access to energy contributed to inequality, poor health, education and poverty in all sectors of the country

She emphasised that in order to achieve the anticipated economic growth: “Nigeria needs to unlock its potential by taking specific steps to build capabilities and enable growth across multiple sectors.

She added that to explore power as a diversification option: “Nigeria’s power sector have been discovered to be a reflection of the economic growth strategy of the country. Power is a strategic infrastructure and represents the most important requirement for moving the economy forward.”

Presenting the lead paper on the theme of the summit, ‘New Reality: Consolidating Economic Diversification’, Dr Ayodele Shittu, Department of Economics, University of Lagos challenged the Federal Government to rethink its investments in infrastructure and technological progress to include both physical and human development.

According to him, from the perspective of a developing country, infrastructure should include both physical and human.

“By implication, it is expedient to invest more in public education and health in the same manner that we are investing heavily in the construction of roads and rail across the country,” he said.

He commended the Federal Government on the role of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), in its quest for a diversified national economy, saying it had done very well to put the country back on a growth trajectory of 7% by the Year-ended 2020, though it may not be achievable due to the emerging health crisis.

“Castigating the ERGP on the basis of the inability to achieve the 7% growth target will be unfair because notable successes have also been recorded, but there are still more macro-economic goals to be achieved.

“There is an urgent need for us to reduce our dependence on external sources of financing. This does not connote abandoning external sources of financing 100%. Rather, it implies that it is high time Nigeria government began to look inward, develop home-grown industries, and create noble and decent job opportunities for all.”