The Bureau of Public Enterprises on Thursday said only 40 per cent of Nigeria’s over 200 million population currently had access to electricity.
This implies that 120 million people in Nigeria have no access to electricity.
The BPE’s Director-General, Alex Okoh, also said the bureau had slated 12 small hydropower plants for concession and had inaugurated a project delivery team for the concession of the facilities.
He disclosed this at the inauguration of team PTD for the concession of small hydros in Nigeria, according to a statement issued in Abuja by the Head, Public Communications, BPE, Amina Othman.
“Director-General, BPE, has called for the establishment of energy sources and resources to supplement the limited power generation and supply in Nigeria with only 40 per cent of the country’s over 200 million population currently having access to electricity,” the statement read in part.
Okoh said Nigeria had abundant natural energy resources to address the power challenges bedevilling the country.
He outlined the natural resources like sun, wind, hydro and biomass (waste), adding that it was imperative to harness the full potential of small hydros for the purpose of electricity production.
He said the 12 small hydro plants slated for concession include eight green fields and four brown fields located in Adamawa, Benue, Kogi, Ogun, Taraba states, as well as the Federal Capital Territory.
The BPE boss said the generation capacities of plants were between 1.2 megawatts to 1,500MW.
Okoh said the drive to unlock the values of the 12 hydropower plants provided another opportunity for the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and the BPE to work together.
This, he said, was in addition to the collaborative efforts at the partial commercialisation and concession of four pilot River Basin Development Authorities across the country.
He charged the 13-member committee drawn from relevant federal ministries, the BPE and other stakeholders to ensure transparent transaction, provide an avenue for effective information gathering on the assets, among others.
Okoh said the committee should screen the eight green-field small hydros in line with the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission guidelines and BPE’s processes and procedures.
We’ll raise oil production to 2.4million barrels daily – NURC
Meanwhile, the newly established Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission on Thursday said its target was to increase Nigeria’s crude oil production from the current level of 1.4 million barrels per day to 2.4mbpd.
The Chief Executive Officer, NURC, Gbenga Komolafe, who disclosed this in a podcast address to the staff of the commission, said the agency would shore up Nigeria’s oil production quota and boost investments in the upstream segment of the sector.
He said, “The oil and gas sector of the economy is at a critical and significant moment in the life of the industry whereby energy transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy is competing with the need for us to raise the bar of our crude oil and gas production from the current level of 1.4mbpd to 2.4mbpd.”
