Nigeria: There Is Urgent Need For Power Sector Roadmap—Says Amadi

A former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi says the problems in Nigeria’s power sector will not abate until the power value chain including gas, is properly addressed.

In his view, the West African nation’s power sector needs to be properly situated to ensure that it is commoditised in a way to ensure investment.

He noted that gas availability in Nigeria, despite being a gas processing country, is very poor due to a variety of reasons like the ability to make the necessary funds available and provide the necessary facilities and infrastructure to ensure gas gets to the gas companies and gets to lower companies for transmission.

He said the gas needs to be properly commoditised in a way that would ensure the availability of gas across the value chain.

Dr. Amadi said in a report filed by TVC News that Nigeria has enough gas to generate all the electricity it needs, but said the country does not possess enough liquidity to put   this into operation until the right thing is done.

He called for another look to be taken at the electricity sector reforms that led to the privatisation of the sector, saying that the fundamentals for the sector do not add up.

Touching on the call for cost reflective tariff in the power sector, Dr Amadi said that it may not be completely cost-reflective now but added that significant improvements have been made in getting a better tariff structure in place in the sector.

He described the call as one borne out of the penchant for wanting quick and easy wins in the long-tenured sector.

He, however, called for better leadership in the sector to mitigate the inefficiency in government business.

He disclosed that the first thing to do was to make short-term improvements by ensuring up to 90 per cent of generated power available to homes and businesses across the country.

He described this as the first step towards enhanced power supply to all Nigerians.

He called for a new power sector roadmap that would take into consideration current realities, adding that no sector develops without an effective handshake between an efficient public service and a dynamic private sector.

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com