FG plans fresh move to boost power supply nationwide

The Federal Government is to review the privatisation of the power sector to boost power supply in the country. It has also pledged to woe investors who left the country for other neighbouring countries due to the appalling energy situation in the country.

Executive Director of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited, Ifeoluwa Oyedele said this in Akure, the Ondo State capital at the weekend during the second 2017 Distinguished Engineering Lecture of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).

Oyedele, who was a guest speaker at the event, pointed out that to make the new energy plan successful, there would be the need to re-visit the tariff issues for a more cost reflective pricing and bankable investment climate.

Speaking on: “Power Infrastructure Development as a Panacea for Industrial Revolution in a Change Environment,” he noted that the review was to build and accommodate other trending global power sources such as hydro, coal, nuclear, solar and wind energies to improve power production in the country.

Oyedele also disclosed that plans have reached advanced stages to increase funding of power infrastructure through construction of transmission lines to ensure operational flexibility.

“Under the new arrangement, government is to build mini grids and renewable energy like the solar in remote areas and villages across the country with a view to resuscitate cottage industries,” he said.

He stressed that government would train and re-train the manpower needs of the job with a view to sustaining it. He added that the country needed about 8,600MW to sustain its industrial base, but presently generates 4,000MW, which cannot meaningfully aid socio-economic development, create wealth and improve the living standards of the people.

This, he said, had impacted negatively on the economy as there was an exodus of manufacturing industries from Nigeria to smaller neighboring countries with stable power supply recently.