Teddy Oscar, Abuja
As Nigeria prepares to finally handover the generation and distribution of electricity to private investors, the Federal Government has revealed that more that 50 percent of electricity consumers are doing so without meters.
According to the minister of power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, this development is likely to scare would-be investors from making real commitment in the nation’s power sector.
Nebo was speaking before a Brazilian delegation led by vice minister of development, industry and international trade, Ricardo Shaefer, in Abuja on Wednesday.
“In a privatised electricity market, would-be investors will be scared as this may translate to their inability to recoup from their investment,” he said, adding that efforts are being made to address the challenges of metering gap in the country.
The minister, who wooed the synergy and cooperation of Brazil in the area of rural electrification to revamp its power sector, said that Nigeria will have more to gain from Brazil’s wealth of experience.
He said that Nigeria’s willingness to have Brazil on board her power sector is driven by her quest to ensure that all Nigerians are connected to electricity.
Nebo, who revealed the Federal Government’s preparedness to revamp the ailing power sector with the assistance from around the world, noted that Brazil has done well in many aspects of electricity especially in big hydro, biomass, solar, wind and coal to power.
“Brazil has not penetrated enough in our on-going sales of power assets. We are prepared to link you with Nigerian partners so that we can benefit from your expertise in generation, distribution, technology access and capacity building. Nigeria intends to learn from the experience of Brazil, as the country has already leap frog in the attainment of development goals,” Nebo said.
He also observed that the leadership Brazil has shown to other countries in the so-called Third World in the area of rural electrification has given hope that Nigeria would soon overcome her developmental challenges.
In his remarks, Godknows Igali, permanent secretary, who reiterated the enormous opportunities in the power sector, said that the nation’s target for moving from 4,000 megawatts to 40,000 in the next seven years would require double efforts from Nigeria’s friends abroad.
“There are opportunities in the planned expansion of generation capacity. This will attract specialised companies interested in cables, switches, transformers are all welcome, describing the market as huge.
“We are interested in Brazil. We want to share from the knowledge and experience of Brazil in renewable (energy), as well as the reform process and training of our young engineers,” Igali said.
Earlier, Shaefer, who commended Nigeria’s commitment to revitalise the power sector, said that their mission was to know the challenges faced by Nigeria in the sector with a view to assisting in proffering workable solutions.
