- The professor advised the federal government to repeal the distribution sector privatisation, introducing monitoring of prepaid metering systems.
- About 90 million, or 46% of Nigeria’s total population, are unconnected to the grid.
A Professor of Energy and Power Engineering at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Osadolor Odia, has called for a state of emergency in power generation and distribution in Nigeria. While delivering the university’s 108th inaugural lecture yesterday, Odia said the move would address energy deficiency in the country.
During the lecture titled “Exploration and Exploitation of Energy Resources: Implication for Man and The Earth”, the professor said no nation could attain the requisite development with the high degree of energy deficiency currently experienced in Nigeria.
He stated, “Nigeria’s electricity availability is, to say the least, abysmal, as Nigeria tops the list of countries with the longest annual outage duration in Africa, which is 4,600 hours. This is 3,200 hours more than the next country on the list, Niger Republic.”
“About 90 million (46 per cent) of Nigeria’s total population are not connected to the grid. Where the grid is available, which corresponds to 54 per cent of the total population, power is only available for between four and 15 hours per week.
“With only about 3GW availability, Nigeria’s power production falls far short of demand, which is the primary constraint to the nation’s economic growth. Nigeria’s power situation is truly miserable compared to the huge population and the desired rate of development,” he added.
The don said that with the nation’s population above 200 million, Nigeria would require a generation capacity of at least 60,000MW. According to him, this would be in addition to the available capacity of at least 40,000MW in the immediate future, with a solid arrangement to double the generation and available capacities before 2035.
In addition, the national energy challenge has not gone beyond redemption; it requires taking specific precise steps. He advised the federal government to consider repealing the privatisation of the distribution sector and introducing prepaid metering systems monitored through remote modular connectivity.
The privatisation exercise, he said, was damaging to rural development. He further said, “Decentralise transmission by carving the nation into between 6 and 10 units and loop the units with gear switches to reduce the very rampant outages due to system failure and invest massively in generation, among other things.”