Nasir El-Rufai, a former Governor of Kaduna State and a ministerial nominee has said Nigerians must pay more for electricity as the N1.6 trillion government spends yearly to subsidize power is unsustainable.
He said there is a need for more investment in the sector and the tariff paid by consumers is not encouraging enough to attract investors.
El-Rufai also said there was need to attract resources to the sector, adding that every house should have metre even as he said power should not be free.
He said President Bola Tinubu is committed to ensuring a constant power supply and is ready to take the decision to get his dreams achieved.
“On power, 80 per cent of the power generation is by gas while 20 per cent is hydro. Power and gas should go together,” El-Rufai said during the screening exercise at the Senate on Tuesday.
“Transmission infrastructure can only carry 6000 out of the 13,000 megawatts the nation is producing. We need to look at it.
“The distribution companies were designed to involve private individuals and major investors, but it is not the case.
“At the moment three out of 11 Discos are doing well, while the banks own six of them.”
“Subsidising electricity consumption with N1.6 trillion despite privatisation is unsustainable. It is unacceptable.”
He stressed the need for fresh capital and fresh investments in the sector.
He said, ” It is possible because six of them are under receivership.”
