Different sectors in the power industry have been mapped out to partake in the N198.28 billion fund for capital projects in the 2021 budget proposal that was recently submitted to the National Assembly.
According to the budget estimate being studied by the lawmakers, the federal ministry of power will make the largest investment as it targets to plough N173.78 billion into capital projects during the period.
The National rural electrification, managed by the Rural Electrification Agency, will get N17.86 billion on power infrastructure development in rural communities.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission plans to invest N294.1 million on capital projects, according to the estimates, while capital projects to be handled by the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) will gulp N441.1 million.
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The regulatory body, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) will get the whopping allocation of N4.69 billion for capital projects. Also, the capital outlay projected for 2021 by the Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Limited is N914.87 million, while the National Power Training Institute targets to invest N294.1 million.
The total overhead for the entire ministry and its agencies was N1.16 billion. The amount budgeted for personnel in the power ministry and its agencies is N4.9 billion. The Federal Government over the years has been striving to grow the nation’s power generation and supply.
Nigeria currently generates between 4,000 megawatts and 5,000MW, although the country’s total installed power generation capacity is about 13,000MW.
The managing director, Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPH), Chiedu Ugbo, said that the country’s power supply would increase from 5,000MW to 7,000MW next year. According to him, the Siemens deal by the Presidential Power Initiative would boost Nigeria’s electricity sector and grow the quantum of power on the grid.
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“The government has been able to secure the Siemens deal through the Presidential Power Initiative. Out of the 13,000MW installed capacity in Nigeria, 8,000MW is available and ready to run but we are doing less than 5,000MW today,” said Ugbo.
According to him, what Siemens has come to do through the project is to help clean up the networks. “Clean up transmission and the argument between transmission and distribution companies will be eliminated,” he said.
He said all the technical loses would be cleaned out, adding that commercial loses would be resolved and the collection by way of metering would be done. In the next one year, he posits, the NDPH we will be able to get at least 7,000MW of that taken up and served to customers.
By Chibisi Ohakah, Abuja
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