The Nigerian Energy Support Programme has said Nigeria urgently needs solutions to the shortage of electricity supply in the country.
The NESP is a technical assistance programme, co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH, in collaboration with Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Power.
It aims to foster private investments in the Nigerian renewable energy and energy efficiency sector and to improve access to electricity for disadvantaged, rural communities.
An advisor for NESP, Fauzia Mohammed, in her presentation at the SUNREF Investors Conference in Lagos, highlighted the need to enhance access to electricity in the country.
She said, “Half of the population are not connected to the main grid, while the other half are grid-connected, but suffer from unreliable power supply. Access to electricity is vital for economic development and good living standards.
“Solving the issues in the electricity sector that are affecting the quality of the main grid supply will take time. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s population continues growing at a fast pace and urgently needs solutions.”
According to her, in Nigeria, the main rural electrification solution is the diesel generator, which runs on fossil fuel at a high cost of N150/kWh ($0.40/kWh).
