Nigeria needs trillions of naira to have steady power – Prof.Onuoha

The Associate Head of the Niger Delta Power Holding
Company, Professor Igwe Onuoha said it will take the
nation trillions of naira in order to get the required
megawatts that will give every Nigerian
uninterrupted power supply.
He said that there is a very wide gap between “our
capacity at the moment and what Nigerians actually
need. There are distinctively specific things that
Nigerians need to put in place in other to increase
the generation but it is an expensive venture for a
nation of 160 million people”.
He said this at the event for Engineering students of
the University of Benin (UNIBEN), during a seminary
organized by SciEtech University Outreach.
According to him
“We are a country of over 160 million people;
our grid is testing to sustain 5000 megawatts.
5000 megawatts means that you have 5
million watts of energy in the grid.
“If we are a 100 million, it means that every
100 people in Nigeria will have only one lamp.
So if you have 5000 megawatts in the grid you
can only support 100 people having only one
lamp. If you want 100 people to have each a
lamp, you multiply 5000 by 100 it gives you
500, 000 megawatts.
“On the average, one million dollars will give
you one megawatt so if you want 100
megawatts you need 100 million dollars. The
exponential multiplication means that you
need far large amount of money to be able to
generate power to make sure that every
Nigerian has a lamp. We will be able to reach
that point when we are able to get all the
money to make that level of investment.
“But there are several sectors in our economy
begging for commitment, so if we are going to
close other sectors of the economy and
concentrate on power, it means that you are
going to have enough money to generate
enough power for 160 million people”he
stated.
Vanguard