Nigeria’s Minister for Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has ordered for investigations into the circumstances leading to the five years extension of licences of power distribution companies in the West African nation.
Minister Adelabu cannot fathom why the Discos have had their licences renewed, when the country’s electricity supply has stagnated at about 4000MW for several years.
“When I came in, the licences I saw were for 10 years…2013 to 2023, but along the line, I spoke to the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) chairman who said they had extended the licences by another five years. We are trying to review the correctness of that.
“We have ordered an investigation into the extension of the licences (to see) if they are actually in order,” Mr Adelabu said in Abuja last Friday.
Adelabu who described the power situation in the country as unacceptable said despite the extension, the licences could still be revoked if the DisCos did not fulfil their performance benchmarks.
The Power Minister hinted that plans had been concluded to organise a Power Sector Retreat between December 12 and 14, 2023, which shall produce a workable roadmap for the sector.
Adelabu stressed that no nation can grow its economy, industries or any sector without a reliable power sector, noting that countries that had grown significantly were those that identified electricity as the engine or driver of growth.
“For example, South Korea, with a 49 million population, generates and distributes 130,000 megawatts of power. So companies like Daewoo, Hyundai, LG and others are now giants of industry, having grown from one-shop companies that they were in the 1960s.
“Secondly, China, with a 1.4 billion population, generates and distributes 1.3 million megawatts of electricity.
“So when we say we are over 200 million people and what we generate and distribute on our national grid is just 4,000 megawatts, it is shameful; it is not acceptable. We must achieve better results,” the Minister ordered.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
