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‘Nigeria’s energy crisis most shameful’

By Tina Todo (Calabar)
26 April 2019   |   4:19 am
Nigeria’S electricity situation has been described as one of the most shameful in the world, considering widening gap, which has affected economic growth and standard of living. Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, (SNEPCO), Bayo Ojulari, insisted yesterday that over 70 per cent of residential houses and small businesses lack one hour…

electricity (energy)

Nigeria’S electricity situation has been described as one of the most shameful in the world, considering widening gap, which has affected economic growth and standard of living.

Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, (SNEPCO), Bayo Ojulari, insisted yesterday that over 70 per cent of residential houses and small businesses lack one hour of electricity supply per day.

This is coming after the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, had boasted that the challenges facing power supply in the country had been managed to a point where Nigerians enjoy almost 24 hours supply of electricity per day.

But Ojulari, at the 2019 Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum (OLEF) organised yesterday by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), stated that despite the privatisation of the country’s electricity industry, the situation remained epileptic.

He was pessimistic of government’s drive towards attracting investors, without addressing the country’s energy crisis.

The MD blamed the wastage of electricity generated on ageing equipment, funding and vandalism.

Also, Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, bemoaned the situation despite abundant energy sources in the country.

Nigeria’s energy consumption was projected to rise from six gigawatts (GW) in 2015 to 30GW by 2025, he added.

According to him, the country requires aggressive development of gas and renewable projects to mitigate the energy crisis.

Baru disclosed that Nigeria requires a refining capacity of 1.52 million barrels per stream day (BPSD) to meet its premium motor spirit (PMS) requirement by 2025.

“To address this shortfall in PMS demand, NNPC is adding 215,000 BPSD of refining capacity through private sector-driven co-location at our existing facilities in Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) by 100,000 BPSD and Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company (WRPC) by 115,000 BPSD.

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