Associate Head of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC, Professor Igwe Onuoha has declared that it will cost Nigeria trillions of naira to be able to generate the amount of megawatts required to give Nigerians uninterrupted power supply.
Noting that there is a very wide gap between the nation’s present capacity and what actually Nigerians need, Onuoha said, “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”.
The NDPHC chief, who was addressing Engineering students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) during a seminar organized by SciEtech University Outreach, stressed that, “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.
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