As the Nigerian government was set to restructure the Power Holding Co. of Nigeria Plc (PHCN) in order to generate 6,000 MW of energy by the end of last year, the ambitious target was unable to be met furthering the West African country’s power woes. Power generation is currently at 3,700 MW – only a little over half of the anticipated 6,000 MW target earlier proclaimed by the PHCN.
Nigeria’s Compass News’ Charles Okonji said, “The National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said that Nigerians spent up to N769.4 billion annually in fueling generators. Of this amount, N540.9 billion was spent on diesel-powered generators, while N255.5 billion was spent on buying petrol for generators.” He added, “The Council for Renewable Energy in Nigeria (CREN) estimated that power outages had brought about a loss of N126 billion ($984.38 million) annually by the country, pointing out that poor transmission lines had contributed to this situation, as many transmission lines could not carry the load due to inadequate maintenance and lack of commitment of government.”
In an interview with Okonji, PHCN’s Operations Executive Director John Ayodele said, “Actually, the 6,000 MW was a target. That target was set as a way of ensuring that Nigeria has electricity. So, it is a figure and it is not the biggest problem we have. The figure could be 4,000 MW, 7,000 MW, or 10,000 MW. That is not the point.”
In October, Alternative Energy Africa reported that the Nigerian government said that it could raise the projected national target of 6,000 MW of electricity generation by December to 18,000 MW by partnering with the private sector on initiatives to encourage energy efficiency products (Nigeria’s Power Generation: Realistic or Outlandish). If targets are only a way of ensuring energy – although energy is still anything but assured in Nigeria – that Nigerian Master Plan of attempting to implement 20% of renewable energy into the generated power mix by 2020 is also just a random number thrown out to give an illusion? Why are private investors going to venture into a country that already has a very fragile political infrastructure when proper figures and statuses on current projects are not given?
However, Nigeria has been supplying energy to Benin, Niger, and Togo. Although when asked, Ayodele was unable to give a proper figure on the amount of MW supplied to the countries, only saying it was “very small.”
Alternative Energy Africa says: Initiatives are a start, but it goes back to the basic concept in business school: what are great ideas if not properly executed?
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