Despite the country’s persistent lack of electricity, over 10,000 megawatts of electricity are being wasted across different idle plants scattered across the country.
Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, decried the country’s wastefulness in the energy sector, revealing that more than 10 gigawatts of generation capacity remain stranded nationwide while millions of citizens live in darkness.
Speaking at the just-concluded Nigeria Energy Conference in Lagos, the minister said the country’s immediate problem was not generation but the inability to transmit and distribute the energy already available.
He described the country as wasteful because plants that should light up businesses and homes were left idle without considering the cost of construction.
In Nigeria today, we have over 10 gigawatts of stranded generation capacity. Yes, we have energy being generated or installed all over the country that we are not even using. Generation will not be our immediate problem today, but stable transmission and effective distribution to the household, with full metering.”
Energy that will power industries, create jobs, and even support electricity exports to our neighbouring countries through the regional power pool is all stranded,” he said.
The minister lamented that several government-built assets worth billions have been left idle for years, saying the country was being lazy and carefree.
Citing examples, he said the Aluminium Smelting Company in Akwa Ibom hosts six turbines of 90 megawatts each, a total of 540 megawatts, that have been lying fallow for two decades simply because of a short transmission gap.
“It’s been there for the past 20 years, not operating. There are power issues because it is not connected to the bridge. But that is not the story. The story is that, inside that factory, there is a 540-megawatt turbine for power generation in good condition. They have about six turbines of 90 megawatts each. Each of these turbines has a capacity for an additional 20 megawatts, which is 120 megawatts, plus 540. It is a potential 660 megawatts of power that has been there for the past 20 years.
