State Needs U.S.$10 Billion Annually to Achieve 40,000 Megawatts

Punch

23 September 2011

State Needs U.S.$10 Billion Annually to Achieve 40,000 Megawatts

The Federal Government Thursday said for Nigeria to achieve 40,000 Megawatts by 2020, it has to make an investment of $10 billion annual over the next 10 years.

Minister of Power, Prof. Bath Nnaji, however, explained that government did not have such money and said that underscored the need for the Federal Government to partner the private sector to achieve this feat.

The Minister, who was represented by the Special Adviser to the Minister, Mr. Chukwuemeka Adinuba, at a symposium organised by the construction and engineering services group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said based on this development, as early as 2005, the government, through the National Assembly, passed the electricity power reform bill into law to confront any stumbling block to the realisation of the Federal Govern-ment's target to generate 4,000 Megawatt, by year 2020.

"In other words, the six power generation companies and the 11 distribution firms will become private sector-owned companies in the first quarter of 2012. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) will remain government-owned but managed by a firm with a well established record and reputation," he said.