The relative recovery recorded in electricity generation in the country in the middle July appears to have been reversed as recent data has shown significant declines.
Vanguard’s findings from the data in the National System Operator, NSO, a unit at the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, shows that Nigeria’s power generation dropped by 6.4 per cent to 3,675.40 megawatts, MW, from 3,926.8MW recorded early last week.
The output had peaked at 4,102.70MW on July 8, 2022, and maintained short-lived stability around 3,800MW up till previous week.
Efforts of the sector regulator, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, to sustain stability in the power sector have largely failed as several legacy issues, especially poor infrastructure and lack of fresh investments, remain unresolved.
The low generation was attributed to low investment in the sector, a development that might constrained the government from meeting its target of 10,000MW by December 2022.
The President, Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, Kunle Kola Olubiyo, had said that power sector calls for long term planning, investment, development and maintenance of assets, for generating, transmitting and distributing adequate power to consumers nationwide.
“Nigeria needs to embark on massive power generation because the present level is grossly inadequate. According to the United Nations, 1,000MW should be dedicated to one million persons, meaning that for the over 200 million people, we need to generate about 200,000MW.”
