40% of Nigerians lacking access to electricity is not acceptable to President Tinubu. This is according to Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Wale Edun.
He said this during a December 12 Ministerial Retreat with the theme: Integrated National Electricity Policy and Strategic Implementation Plan: Navigating and Aligning on the Path to Enhanced Electricity Reliability, currently taking place in Abuja.
According to him, power is a catalyst for economic growth and about 40% of Nigerians do not have access to electricity, and the situation is not acceptable to the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He also requested that all electricity stakeholders in the country work together to move the sector forward.
TCN will be unbundled
Meanwhile, the Minister for Power, Adebayo Adelabu said that the Power Ministry’s retreat will focus on the Integrated National Electricity Policy Strategic Implementation Plan in the following key areas;
- Electricity Market Design
- Examining key challenges in the governance of electricity
- Risk Mitigation on gas to power;
- TSP, ISO & Super Grid;
- Human Resources Development and Finance of Capital Development.
The Minister also revealed that TCN will be unbundled into Transmission Service Provider (TSP) and Independent System Operator (ISO) to advance the growth of electricity in Nigeria.
Past pledge on 80% transmission
Note that during his address at the Nigeria Energy Conference in September 2023, Adelabu said Nigeria’s power sector challenges will come to an end if the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) can transmit 80 to 85% of generated power to customers to stay liquid.
According to him, within the next three years, he will work to get Nigeria to 20,000 MW and transmit 80% to end users in the country.
He also emphasised the need for metering in all households and businesses to ensure proper collection. At the time, Adelabu said:
- “If we cannot transmit 80 to 85% of the generated power to customers, then we are wasting investments. We must invest in metering technology if we can eliminate the 8 million metering gap in Nigeria and come up with technology to ensure that collections are monitored, and we can collect up to 90% of power distributed, of course, liquidity is assured in this country.”
