The Chairman of Transnational Corporation (Transcorp), and the United Bank for Africa, UBA, Tony Elumelu, has blamed the sluggish growth in the economy to insufficient transmission and lack of liquidity in the electricity market.
Elumelu, therefore, called on the federal government to revamp the power sector and privatise transmission lines in order to revive the nation’s struggling economy.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, he claimed that the growth of the market in the industry is being hampered by the poor electricity supply, which has led to low productivity in the country.
He stated: “The currency crisis is a sign of many things. As a country, we can’t produce well enough in spite of our natural resources. The reason is lack of electricity.”
Nigeria sends less than a third of the 13,000 megawatt of electricity it generates to the grid, leaving most Nigerians dependent on home generators.
Proffering solutions on the way out of the quagmire, Elumelu advised President Bola Tinubu’s government to lure investors to develop the nation’s large gas reserves to fuel power stations, and allow the private sector to manage the transmission lines.
In 2013, Nigeria sold about 15 state-owned generators to private companies to improve efficiency while keeping ownership of the transmission lines. But the lack of investment in the transmission assets meant that they are too weak and inefficient to wheel power to consumers. “Even where you generate electricity, the grid cannot take it, so it’s a problem for us, I am advocating let us privatize transmission lines,” Elumelu stated.
He urged the federal government to attract investors to develop the nation’s large gas reserves to fuel power stations, and allow the private sector to manage the transmission lines.
“Some institutions have idle gas assets or fields. Government should take some of these and let Nigerians who have the resources and means to invest in gas take them,” he added.
With Agency report and reports from the Vanquard