The Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC) has called for massive investment in the power sector to optimise the current generation capacity in the country.
Dr Joy Ogaji, the Executive Secretary of APGC made the call in an interview in Abuja on Friday.
Ogaji said that optimising power generation would mean utilising existing or available generations.
She added that this would also mean consuming what were available and recovering unavailable capacities, which currently stood at about 5,000MW.
Ogaji said that there was the need for massive investment in transmission and distribution networks in the country to boost power supply.
She said Power Generation Companies (GenCos) have the capacity to increase their output, adding that increase in generation must be complemented by corresponding wheeling capacity by Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
“Gencos are caught in the middle of a weak transmission network and a poor commercial market structure.
“Instances abound where GenCos have had to resort to other means other than the electricity market to support the gas and other services just to put power on the grid,“ she said.
She said that it was the responsibility of the regulator as well as the policy makers in the industry to make the market more competitive for sustainability and viability.
“If you do your research you see that a lot of our industries have actually moved to Ghana. I don’t know if the government is doing that research.
“The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) should do their research to see how many companies have moved out to Ghana in search of steady electricity.’’
Ogaji said that the challenges in the power sector were man-made, adding that they can be resolved by involving Nigerians who are experts in the field.
“The solution is not far-fetched as there are Nigerians who are sector experts who have the relevant qualifications and years of experience to put in and solve these problems,“ she said.
