40 per cent of production cost goes into power generation–MAN

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has said that because of insufficient power supply, over 40 per cent of production cost in Nigeria goes to electricity generation by manufacturers.

Mr Regard Odiah, a member of MAN and Chairman, Technical Committee on Operationalisation of Micro-Grid for Industrial Initiative, made the statement in Abuja when he presented the report of the committee to NERC.

The committee was inaugurated two weeks ago by NERC and mandated to take a critical look at the energy laws in Nigeria.

The committee was also required to come up with implementable policies and regulations that would address the numerous power challenges facing industries, especially the manufacturing sector.

“Over 40 per cent of our production cost goes into provision of electricity supply for our manufacturing.

“Also when other infrastructural deficiencies are added, Nigeria becomes one of the most expensive countries in the world to set up a business venture,’’ he said.

Odiah said the combined power generation capacity of MAN nationwide was 15,000mw while the maximum generation from the central/national grid was less than 5,000mw and unreliable.

According to him, this leaves a huge gap of power insufficiency to the sector.

He listed time and fund as the two factors that posed challenges to the committee in producing the report.

Earlier, the Chairman of NERC, Dr Sam Amadi, expressed happiness and appreciation to the committee for preparing the report and coming out with the report on time.

He assured the committee that the report would be submitted to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, for approval.

Mr Frank Jacob, President of MAN, said that there were 28 industrial clusters in Nigeria, adding that the association spent N73 million every month on power generation to manufacture goods in the clusters.

Jacob explained that with adequate supply of electricity, the association would manufacture more goods and the economy would be better and people enjoy improved standard of living.