Former Minister of Power and Chairman of Geometric Power Group Professor Bart Nnaji has said Nigeria needs at least 100000 megawatts of electricity to achieve significant economic growth and compete with emerging economies such as Brazil and Indonesia.
Nnaji who expressed concern over the country’s persistent power crisis attributed the sector’s poor performance to irregularities in the 2013 privatisation exercise mounting government debts inadequate gas supply and the absence of investment guarantees.
He spoke on Friday while delivering the keynote address at the Lagos Country Club Business Forum 3.0 in Ikeja Lagos. The forum had the theme ‘Energy Costs and Business Survival: Driving Profitability amid Nigeria’s Power Crisis.’
According to him Nigeria has the capacity to generate about 13000MW of electricity but only between 4000MW and 5000MW is available on the national grid partly due to the deteriorating transmission infrastructure.
He said the country’s ambition to become a major economic power would remain unattainable without massive investment in electricity generation transmission and distribution.
‘Nigeria needs at least 100000MW to become a higher-medium economy. This is my figure by looking at countries that we like to compare notes with such as Brazil and Indonesia’ he said.
Nnaji maintained that the required investment could only be mobilised through private sector participation supported by an enabling government environment.
He criticised the circumstances surrounding the privatisation of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) arguing that the exercise was driven largely by investors seeking immediate and excessive returns rather than a commitment to developing the electricity industry.
According to him some prospective investors had wrongly assumed that acquiring electricity assets would yield returns comparable to those recorded during the telecommunications boom.
‘The strong desire for immediate and humongous profits from the sector led to the enormous abuses the nation witnessed during the privatisation of Power Holding Company of Nigeria assets in 2013’ he said.
In his welcome address the President of Lagos Country Club Seyi Adewunmi outlined five strategic priorities for building a sustainable electricity market.
He said the country must strengthen electricity generation through reliable gas supply adequate infrastructure proper maintenance of existing power plants and investment in a mix of gas-fired hydroelectric and renewable energy sources.
Adewunmi also called for accelerated investment in transmission and distribution infrastructure including power lines substations transformers and modern grid management to address bottlenecks and reduce technical and commercial losses.
On decentralised electricity solutions he said the Electricity Act 2023 provided a framework for greater participation by state governments and private investors in electricity markets subject to applicable regulatory requirements.
He cited the Aba Integrated Power Project associated with Nnaji as an example of how integrated power solutions could serve specific economic communities.
‘Our objective must be simple: electricity that is reliable affordable and sustainable whatever its source’ he said.
Adewunmi further called for commercial discipline transparency and accountability across the electricity value chain noting that electricity companies needed adequate revenue to maintain infrastructure while investors required predictable returns and consumers deserved fair bills and reliable supply.
He advocated transparent tariffs and service obligations improved metering an end to estimated billing and measures to tackle electricity theft and avoidable losses. He added that subsidies for vulnerable Nigerians should be properly targeted and transparently funded.
The club president also urged businesses to make energy management a strategic priority by adopting energy-efficient technologies smarter building designs and renewable solutions such as solar power and battery storage to reduce operating costs.
He said resolving the power crisis required a collective national commitment with government providing consistent policies regulators protecting consumers financial institutions funding long-term infrastructure and energy companies improving operational performance.
‘For the true measure of power sector reform is not the megawatts announced in speeches but the reliable electricity delivered to our factories our offices and our homes’ he said.