Worried by the epileptic power supply in the country, a pressure group, Good Governance Initiative, GGI, has disclosed that aside from being a dumping ground for power generating sets, Nigerians spent over N25 billion importing same in 2012, the highest in the world.
President of the initiative, Mr. Festus Mbisiogu, called on Nigerians to extract a promise from the preferred bidders of the unbundled Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, assets to improve on the current generation of power to grow the economy.
He said: “The epileptic power supply has remained a cog in the wheel of the nation’s progress and is eating deep into the profits of businesses, particularly of companies that incur huge expenses in powering their businesses.
“The insufficient public power supply has led to the relocation of most multinational companies to other African countries, those who decided to stay back rely on generators, while those that can’t afford such have closed shop.
“It is not surprising that in 2012 alone, Nigerians spent N25 billion in importing generators and this figure is sure to increase if drastic measures are not taken.
“Ghana recently celebrated 10 years of uninterrupted power supply; South Africa, with a population of over 50 million, generates 40,000MW; Brazil has 100,000MW with a population of 192 million, while Nigeria still struggles to generate 4,000MW for its over 160 million strong people.”
“Statistics from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, revealed that most companies spent over N800 billion in 2012 to power their industrial generating sets, while other small scale business, banks and traders in various markets spent over N2 trillion to power theirs.
“The average residential expenditure (an estimated 60 million residents use generators of varying sizes) on fueling power generators had climbed to an all time high of N1.56 trillion.”
The GGI President called on the preferred bidders to meet their contractual obligations by improving on power generation and supply so as to open new opportunities for investment and growth of all sectors of the economy.