Nigeria's Power Minister, Adebayo Adelabu, emphasized the critical need for a substantial investment of $10 billion over the next five to ten years to achieve a 24-hour electricity supply across the nation.
This ambitious goal underscores the importance of private-sector involvement due to the limitations faced by the government in addressing the myriad challenges within the power sector.
During a meeting with Dr. Jobson Ewalefoh, Director General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Minister Adelabu stated, "Government cannot do it alone; this is why we have to look for organized private sector funding while still retaining government interest and ownership."
The collaboration between public and private entities is deemed essential to revamp the country's beleaguered power infrastructure. Dr. Ewalefoh echoed these sentiments, highlighting that "revamping the power sector requires planning; it involves investments, and it takes time. So, we need to collaborate to solve the issues in this sector." He pointed out that leveraging the financing capacity of the private sector is crucial, given the government's inability to fund the necessary improvements independently.
Nigeria's power sector is currently grappling with significant hurdles, including frequent grid collapses, high electricity costs, metering deficiencies, and limited access to power.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has attributed the recurring grid failures to corruption among contractors, further complicating efforts to stabilize the national grid.
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