- The state plans to create its own electricity market, including a 20-hour power supply.
- Enugu targets a GDP increase of $30 billion from the current $4.4 billion it generates.
Enugu State government has unveiled a transition plan to generate over 690 megawatts of electricity and at least 20-hour daily power supply by 2030. This capacity will take the state from an energy-poor state to a commercially viable electricity market. The government also said the urgency of the state in enacting the Enugu State Electricity Law to take immediate advantage of the 2023 constitution amendment and the Electricity Act 2023 to set up a viable Enugu electricity market and reliable energy supply is in tandem with its economic growth plan to make Enugu State a leading industrial hub.
The Governor of Enugu State, Dr Peter Mbah, stated this during a Roundtable themed “The Electricity Act 2023” Implications and Opportunities for State Electricity Market.” The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and United Kingdom Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UKNIAF) organised the event for the state governments and critical stakeholders in Abuja yesterday. The governor, represented by the secretary to the State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, said the state was deliberate in its effort to create an enabling environment for energy players and investors to come in and help grow the state’s GDP from the present $4.4 billion to $30 billion.
He said, “As a government, we have set out an ambitious economic growth plan and integral to that plan is the electricity needs of Enugu State and the investors that will be coming into Enugu State. So, keeping that in mind, what we have gone ahead to do is to set out the processes right after the constitutional amendment. We are creating our own Enugu State electricity market. Our key objective for doing this is to ensure the reliability of power that will catalyse that growth by making the private sector actors feel comfortable to come to Enugu State.”