Don’t expect stable power soon – Minister

Written by Daily Trust Monday, 15 March 2010

ShareNigeria should not expect a stable power supply any time soon as the sector requires $5billion annually, Minister for Power Olanrewaju Babalola has said. The minister who addressed newsmen at the weekend said the federal government does not have the required investment and cannot turnaround the comatose sector alone.

He said for the sector to be revived, the government needs to embark on a major reform to attract private sector participation who will partner with the government to solve the myriad problems of the power sector.

According to him, Nigerians should see power issue beyond the 6000MW, adding that the power sector can only revive if the FG carries out a total overhaul of the sector. “Without an effective reform and restructuring in the sector it will be difficult to have achieved the desired goal in the power sector.

“Government can equally attract the $ 5 billion dollars through the private and foreign investors in order to revive the sector but needs to clean up the system in order to attract investors,” he said.

The minister added that to run an effective power station in the country, state governments should be allowed to invest and control the distribution segment, private investors to handle the generation of the power while the federal government should superintend transmission of power.

He said when the power sector is effectively and efficiently reformed, it will attracts better investors, adding that the without radical revolution found in the telecommunication industry today Nigeria will not have been enjoying the better services.

He however assured Nigerians that the power sector is working seriously to ensure that electricity is more effective and efficient in the country at shortest possible period.

Babalola said the government is concentrating on building power plants and concentrate on hydro station to aid the power distribution since gas availability to PHCN has been major constraint of the power company in recent time.

He said PHCN has come up with a plan that could be used as an alternative source of fuel such as Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to power the plants that are currently idle.

The minister said frequent shut down of gas pipelines in the country affects power generation in the country, stressing that government spent over N 2 billion to procure LPFO to run the hydro stations in the country.