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Nigeria’s transmission grid not competitive enough – Nebo

By BusinessNews Staff on November 5, 2014

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo has again declared that Nigeria’s electricity transmission grid is far below what obtains in countries like China, India and the United States.

Nebo said recently in Abuja that Nigeria’s existing grid line has not been competitive enough and that the 330kVA electricity load capacity that is currently being used in Nigeria remains far below what China, India and the U.S have in their systems.

He noted that these countries have been able to grow their grid systems to accommodate electricity transmission capacities in excess of 1,050KVA.

The minister also told officials of the United States President, Barack Obama’s power initiative for Africa, Power Africa, that when fully operational in select countries across Africa, the initiative might be short-lived if there are no competent persons to manage them.

The delegation was led by American Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, US Department of State, Mr. Robert Jackson.

Nebo called on the initiative to leverage its potentials to the African continent by including in its operational strategy; human capacity development which he explained will drive the scheme farther than expected.

He said it had become imperative for Power Africa to inculcate capacity building into it itinerary, adding that experts must be on ground to provide the necessary knowhow to those that would operate the installations and the entire system to make the initiative sustainable.

A statement from the ministry quoted the minister to have told a Power Africa delegation that despite US encouraging roles in creating a robust power sector in Nigeria, it was necessary for the US and other western countries to become more visible in Nigeria’s electricity sector.

The statement noted that whilst most of the big financial interventions in the sector had come from Asia, the US and Europe have been limited in fully engaging the power reform programme of Nigeria with regards to full scale investments.

Nebo thus asked the US and Europe to change their investment strategies in Nigeria’s electricity sector to be able to benefit from the dividends of the market as it grows into maturity.

Meanwhile, Nebo also emphasised on the need to strengthen Nigeria’s grid system when he signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chinese firm, Shandong Power Equipment (SPECO) for the construction of a new national grid system for Nigeria. Details on this new transmission project were however sketchy with no explanation from the ministry.

[This Day]

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