Transforming Nigeria’s power sector

Nigeria has been one of the shining stars in the African economy over the last decade. And has significant potential for sustainable growth. But one area which needs immediate attention and investment is the power sector, where the low availability of power is currently a major obstacle.

Sector challenges include value chain losses, limited transmission coverage and supply disruptions. If these issues can be overcome, there is potential for Nigeria’s economy to grow at an exciting pace.

A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers titled Powering Nigeria for the Future outlines three critical leaps that need to take place in order to accelerate transformation within the sector. These are:

Accelerating growth in power generation capacity and improving utilisation
Expanding the power transmission network and driving better efficiencies
Establishing and scaling up efficient power distribution capabilities

The report identifies a total of ten levers within these three leaps, which will play a critical role in further accelerating the ongoing journey towards the transformation of Nigeria’s power sector. This includes a mix of favourable policies, implementation of new technology, faster project execution and improvement in operational efficiencies across the value chain.

According to the report, executing these will require the alignment and collaboration within the entire ecosystem, including the Nigerian government, regulator and the industry. This is also expected to create significant opportunities for companies across the power value chain to bring their global skills and expertise to participate in the journey of powering Nigeria’s long term growth.

“Overall, Nigeria has the potential to once again emerge as a shining star, not only within Africa, but in the global economy as well. Enhancing the availability of power over the next decade, based on robust generation, transmission and distribution capabilities, will help create a strong foundation towards unlocking this potential and powering Nigeria for the future,” says the report.