Business

‘Nigeria requires 180,000mw of electricity’

 

The Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer, United Capital, Bunmi Akinremi, while speaking at a Power Summit in Lagos has said Nigeria will require 180,000 megawatts (mw) of electricity to meet the needs of household and businesses, which is a far distance from the government’s target of 10,000mw by 2020,

He said about 55 per cent of Nigerians have no access to electricity from the grid, while those connected to the grid face extensive power interruptions. Akinremi argued that despite a series of amendments, cash flows from MYTO have proven insufficient to service the entire value chain. He noted that for tariff to be cost reflective in Nigeria, it needs to be 87.0 per cent higher.

Akinremi stressed the need for the national grid to be decentralised as a matter of urgency, to achieve quick fixes to capacity and efficiency issues. To address the over leveraged state of the Discos, he said there is a need for equity injection as the domestic financial system is overexposed to the sector. He however said that despite current challenges, the Nigerian power sector still holds attractive long-term value.

Meanwhile, the debate over the about 2,000MW of energy said to have been rejected by Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) came up Monday at a two day stakeholders’ consultation forum in Abuja, as the electricity Generation Companies (GenCos) urged the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to classify it as part of the available generation capacity in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), IWIN reports.

Represented by the Executive Secretary, Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), Mrs. Joy Ogaji, she said that the GenCos should not suffer owing to the stranded power. “We are not saying we don’t have enough generation. The only constraint that Nigeria is having is the cost of gas. We have over 2,000MW sitting. The over 2,000Mw should be treated, it is available. GenCos should not suffer for it. In line with the review NERC should capture the stranded capacity,” she said.

There was also a case for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to be privatized since it was obvious that the Federal Government, its operator had proven inefficient. In his view, the Commissioner of Engineering Performance and Monitoring, Prof. Frank Okafor, however explained that the cost of funding the transmission network was too enormous for a private company to raise for the operation of the system, saying, “It will be difficult to get investors that will fund the TCN.”

 


…to expand crude exportation to more countries – NNPC

The Managing Director, NNPC Trading Limited, Ibrahim Waya on Sunday said the Corporation has set the necessary machinery in motion to expand Nigeria’s crude export to more countries.

He disclosed: “We are currently negotiating with Pertamina, Indonesia’s state oil company, and we are also in talks with them for supply of Nigerian crude oil grades. We have started discussing with Serak Refinery in Congo Republic, because they have undertaken an expansion programme in their refinery that would see them take an additional 500,000 barrels per day of crude, and we want to take up that contract.”

“Our vision is for us to go as far as Mexico to bid for term contracts, go to Brazil [for companies] like Petrobras to bid for term contracts, go to Norway just like Statoil is coming here to bid for contracts, we want to go to Norway and do the same,” he added.

 

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