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Blackouts in parts of Nigeria due to a gas supply shortage to generation plants have sparked fresh concerns about the perennial challenges facing the nation’s power sector.
It had been reported last weekend that the Nigerian Federal Government and Transmission Company of Nigeria blamed the drop in electricity supply to Nigeria in recent weeks on gas constraints.
Months back, the government also blamed gas shortage for reduced electricity supply by Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) to electricity distribution companies.
Nigeria’s electricity supply relies on 26 nationwide hydro and gas-fired power plants.
Nigeria’s available electricity generation capacity has hovered between 3,000MW and 5,000MW since the sector was privatized in 2013 for a population of over 200 million.
Ten years after the sector’s privatization, it has refused to improve despite spending N3.348 trillion on electricity subsidies, according to the latest data by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
This is as the country plans to spend another N1.6 trillion on electricity subsidies in 2024.
Despite the heavy spending on the sector, Nigeria’s power industry is bedevilled by a lack of investment, electricity policy enforcement, regulatory uncertainty, gas supply, transmission system constraints, and significant power sector planning shortfalls in recent years.
NERC’s third quarter 2023 report said gas constraints remain a significant challenge to the country’s national grid.
This development remains prevalent despite the country’s 208.83 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, representing 33 per cent of Africa’s total gas reserves of 620TCF, according to the Chief Executive Officer, NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe.
Like other sectors in Nigeria, the power industry has diverse bottlenecks impeding its growth.
Speaking exclusively to Journalists on Monday, Bolaji Tunji, special adviser, strategic communication and media relations to the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said the federal government has moved to resolve the gas constraint challenge for GenCos.