Business
Industrial Cities To Enjoy Steady Power, 2013 -Nnaji
Special Adviser to the President on Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, has said that industrial cities in Nigeria will have uninterrupted power supply in 2013.
He said that this was necessary to boost national economic growth and development.
Nnaji said the nation’s power reform was intended to ensure that there was stable power supply and also to make independent power producers and investors feel comfortable in building power plants in Nigeria.
He spoke during an interactive session with the civil society on the power sector reform in Lagos, recently.
According to him, there is an improvement in power supply in the country, adding that the improvement will continue till when the nation achieves stable power supply.
Nnaji said, “The structure that we are setting up will ensure that people feel comfort in trying to build power plants in Nigeria. That is the bottom-line because we are not going to see significant increase in power unless people who can build power plant feel comfort in coming to build the power plant.
According to him, the independent power plants will deliver additional 4.775megawatts in 2013.
“The structure there now will allow that. That is why there is privatisation and government is also giving out power plants under a concession arrangement. That is why there is privatisation going on for distribution companies. Once this is done, by the middle of this year, all these should have been done then we can begin to expect that there will be quantum leap in power generation in a very short time because people will begin to feel comfort to build power plants.
“There will be increase in power generation this year. By the end of this year, Nigerians will feel real change and next year, more change and in that progression and we will begin to experience stability. There will be a time where some cities will have real reliable and uninterrupted supply, essentially industrial cities. What we want is to stabilise industrial cities so that the Nigerian economy will begin to grow as quickly as possible. Between now and 2013, many of the cities will begin to have that kind of reliability.”
Nnaji who is also chairman, Presidential Task Force on Power, stated that privately owned power plants operated at installed capacity and were efficiently run and operated. He added that independent power producers would be encouraged to build more power plants. According to him, the nation will get to a point where about 80 per cent of power in Nigeria comes from private sources.
He said there were many challenges inhibiting efficient power supply and distribution in the nation, adding that those challenges would definitely be surmounted.