Nigeria Loses $29bn To Power Failure Yearly — Senate President

Senate President Ahmad Lawan on Monday lamented that Nigeria loses about $29 billion yearly to irregular and poor power supply.

Lawan disclosed this while declaring open an investigative public hearing on a motion titled: “Power Sector Recovery Plan and the Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic” organized by the Senate Committee on Power, in Abuja.

Lawan noted that Nigeria has spent N1.8 trillion on power since 2015 without anything concrete to show for it

He said that while he cannot call for outright reversal of the privatisation of the power sector by the Federal Government, there ought to a review of the exercise to stop huge financial losses to the Federal Government on a monthly basis.

He said that instead of the power situation in the country to improve after privatisation as expected, the prospects of the sector have continued to dim with attendant loses.

According to him, the Share Purchase Agreement between the Federal Government, Distribution Companies (DisCos), Generating Companies (GenCos), during the exercise is today responsible for Nigeria losing between N12billion and N15 monthly.

He insisted that Nigeria cannot be competitive or make sustainable progress without sustainable power.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, in her presentation agreed with Lawan that the power sector has failed to perform as envisaged from the privatisation exercise.

Zainab disclosed that the Federal Government has designed a Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP) consisting of a set of coordinated actions which when implemented in the next five years, are expected to reset the sector and place it on a sustainable development and growth trajectory.

Agencies at the public hearing were the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET), and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE)