$10 billion is needed yearly for the next ten years to revive the nation’s power sector – Minister of Power, Adelabu
Adebayo Adelabu, the Minister of Power, issued a caution that the nation would face a complete power outage within the next three months if the suggested increase in electricity tariffs is not put into effect.
This warning came during his appearance in Abuja before the Senate Committee on Power for an investigative hearing regarding the recent electricity tariff adjustment by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on Monday, April 29.
“The entire sector will be grounded if we don’t increase the tariff. With what we have now in the next three months, the entire country will be in darkness if we don’t increase tariffs. The increment will catapult us to the next level. We are also Nigerians, we are also feeling the impact.”
He said the sum of $10 billion is needed yearly for the next ten years to revive the nation’s power sector and nip in the bud the challenges bedevilling it.
“For this sector to be revived, the government needs to spend nothing less than 10 billion dollars annually in the next 10 years.
This is because of the infrastructure requirement for the stability of the sector. But the government cannot afford that. And so we must make this sector attractive to investors and to lenders. So, for us to attract investors and investment, we must make the sector attractive, and the only way it can be made attractive is that there must be commercial pricing.
If the value is still at N66 and the government is not paying subsidy, the investors will not come. But now that we have increased the tariff for A Band, there are interests being shown by investors,” he said.
