Minister of Power Prof Chinedu Nebo has appealed to delegates at the National Conference Committee on Energy in Abuja to make recommendations that will lead to legislation for sufficient and sustainable power supply. He has also called for the understanding and cooperation of all Nigerians, for the full actualisation of the reform of Nigeria’s power sector.

Nigeria currently generates approximately 4 000MW of energy. Nebo said that the on-going rehabilitation works on Kainji and Jebba Power Plants will mean more power will be made available in the country before the end of the year. However, a privatisation exercise was necessitated by the huge volume of funding required for the sector, as well as the need to speed up efforts for power supply to meet up with per capita supply that is comparable to other nations of the world.

According to the minister, local and foreign investors are eager to participate in the industry because they know that Nigeria is in a leading position in terms of return on investment index. However, he reportedly told the committee that Nigeria need nearly US $10 billion is to double its current power generation capacity.

He also noted that, in order for Nigeria’s power sector to meet the power generation of South Africa, Nigeria needed over US $300 billion dollars investment in the sector, PM News reported.

According to Nebo, South Africa, which was a little more than one quarter of the population of Nigeria, is generating 10 times more power than Nigeria, meaning it generates 40 times what Nigeria is generating per capita. “If Nigeria were to be at par with South Africa we should be generating 160 000MW,” he said.