Nigerians spend some N30 trillion yearly on self-generated, off-grid electricity due to inadequate public power supply.
The nation could however save more than three quarters of this annual spending as investments in the national grid system and increase in public power supply revenue to N6 trillion will guarantee stable power supply.
In a stack portrayal of the power sector mismatch, the entire annual revenue of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) in 2023 was about N1 trillion.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu yesterday painted a vivid illustration of the power sector challenge, underlining the need for reforms and long-term investments to ensure stable supply.
Adelabu spoke on “Navigating Nigeria’s Pathway to Achieving Energy Security Sustainability on the Journey to Net Zero” in Abuja at the 2024 Nigerian Oil and Gas (NOG) conference.
He outlined that as against N30 trillion being spent on generation of electricity from diesel, petrol, gas and generators by individuals and companies, an increase of N5 trillion in revenue from the national grid system would ensure round-the-clock electricity supply nationwide.
Citing many studies on the power sector to buttress his points, Adelabu noted that a study in 2023 had indicated that N16.5 trillion was spent on diesel, petrol and servicing of power generators.
“If you know how much people spend buying diesel, buying petrol, buying generators, servicing them in a year… The last study we had in 2023, a total of N16.5 trillion was spent on diesel in power generation. Even a number of the industries are off the grid.
“So spending in the sector off the grid is close to N30 trillion. The revenue for the entire industry, the grid, the entire power sector was just N1 trillion for 2023, all that went to generation companies, transmission companies and the distribution.
“The informal spending on generation, in diesel, petrol, was close to N20 trillion. Even if it is just a quarter of that is out in the official power sector, we are talking incremental revenue of N5 trillion, that will push the sector revenue to N6 trillion. Significantly, we are going to have uninterrupted 24/7 power supply,” Adelabu said.
