The President of the Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, Kunle Olubiyo, has warned that the national power grid will collapse if electricity generation hits 6,000 megawatts.
The NCPN president revealed that the national grid would collapse should it get up to 6,000MW of electricity from power generation companies.
Olubiyo explained that regulatory inconsistencies coupled with the weak infrastructure in the sector were shrinking the electricity-carrying capacity of the national grid.
He said, “Over the years, due to regulatory flip-flops and weakness, Nigeria has not been able to surpass 5,800MW of electricity. In fact, if at any point we decide to do 6,000MW, the grid as a monolithic structure will collapse.”
Olubiyo tasked the incoming administration to give priority to the power sector, stressing that this was among the key demands of Nigerians and various business entities.
“As far as the power sector is concerned and the end-users or the public is concerned, the major priority of the in-coming administration should be energy security.
“Nigeria is one of the leading members of OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) and it is quite abnormal and a global embarrassment that in the midst of abundant reserves of gas, crude oil and all other variables that make the energy economy, Nigeria still lacks adequate energy,” Olubiyo stated.
According to him, gas-to-power is very crucial as the mainstay of the economy. The power expert further pointed out that the 5,000MW being shared by over 200 million citizens in Nigeria was grossly inadequate when compared to the acceptable standards globally.
“So, the major focus of the incoming administration should be energy security for Nigeria, because the United Nations benchmark is 1,000MW for a population of one million people,” Olubiyo said.
