The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has stated that Nigeria requires $10 billion annually for 20 years to achieve a steady electricity supply.
The minister disclosed this during the inauguration of a 2.5 megawatt solar hybrid power project at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna State.
Adelabu identified inadequate maintenance, insufficient investment, and the inability to upgrade transmission grids as major causes of the infrastructure gap in the power sector, which has accumulated over 60 years.
He said, “For us to achieve functional, reliable, and stable electricity in Nigeria, we need at least $10 billion annually for the next 20 years. But there are some foundational bottleneck that we experienced in the past that needs to be fixed for the spending of this money to have meaning.”
The minister restated the government’s commitment to providing sustainable and reliable energy to critical national institutions like the NDA.
He highlighted the significance of the recently signed energy bill into law, stating that it has achieved liberation and decentralization of the power sector.
Adelabu explained that the new law would enable all levels of government, federal, state, and local governments to play roles in the power sector, by providing electricity to citizens at sub-national levels.
He noted, ”This bill has achieved liberation and decentralisation of the power sector to enable all levels of government federal, state, and local governments to legally and morally play roles in the power sector to give their citizens at sub-national levels electricity.”
According to the minister, the new law has given autonomy to over 11 states, with more expected to follow.
”These states can now participate in the power sector, from generation to transmission, distribution, and metering, ” he added.
Adelabu emphasised the need to address the infrastructure deficit in the power sector, which has piled up over the last 60 years due to lack of maintenance and insufficient investment.
He said, “We talk about infrastructure deficit, then we talk about fixing infrastructure deficit, which has piled up over the last 60 years due to lack of maintenance, lack of additional investment to revive our transmission grid.”
