Over 60 percent of manufacturing companies in Nigeria have been forced to exit the national grid due to unreliable power supply, and have resulted in self-generation of power which have driven production costs and made Nigerian goods uncompetitive, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has said.
Adelabu,who disclosed during the release of a National Integrated Electricity Policy (NIEP) and the public presentation of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP),said that bringing back the manufacturing companies that left the national grid on board is the only way the government can drive the expected economic growth and national development.
He added: “Today, more than 60 percent of our manufacturing industry is completely off-grid. They engage in self-generation, not because they are in rural areas or they are in semi-urban areas, they are in locations where there is access to electricity.
“But how reliable is this access? We all know that there are a lot of sensitive manufacturing processes that cannot tolerate a one-minute dip in the electricity supply. Instead of taking such a risk by connecting to a grid that is not reliable, these industries would rather go for self-generation which is very expensive.
“Therefore, our products or commodities being turned out from these factories can never be competitive. The only way we can allow this to contribute to economic growth, industrialization, and national development is to ensure that there is reliability in grid supply, so that all these companies that are currently off-grid can go back to the grid, and this will reduce their cost of production, it will reduce inflation, and our locally manufactured goods can now compete with imported goods.”
According to him, an investment of $32.8 billion is needed in the power sector between now and 2030 to enable the country to achieve universal electricity access.
Of the amount, $17 billion is expected from the public sector while about $15.8 billion will be contributed by the private sector, he said.
He said that the launching of the new policy will help to drive the transformation of Nigeria’s power industry and ensure the return of the manufacturing firms which had exited the national grid.
According to him, the new policy document had been submitted for the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
