An estimated 60 million Nigerians now own power generating sets for their electricity, while the same number of people spend a staggering N1.56 trillion ($13.35m ) to fuel them annually.
Chairman of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Imo, Abia Branch, Dr. Frank S.U. Jacobs, made this disclosure, in a chat with Vanguard on the effects of poor public power supply on the industrial growth of the two states (Imo and Abia).
“An estimated 60 million residents use generators of varying sizes. In the last one year, average residential expenditure in fuelling power generators climbed to an all-time high of N1.56 trillion, about $13.35 billion per annum”, Dr. Jacobs lamented.He was of the view that, “similar level of expenditure on private power generation has characterised the affairs of industrial and commercial power consumers”, adding that early last year, independent investigations recorded about half the figures outlined above.
He recalled with grief that the Senior Private Sector Specialist at the World Bank, Mr. Steven Dimitryer, noted that “Nigeria experienced the worst electricity crisis among its contemporaries, which underscores the nightmarish generation, distribution and supply in the country.”Dr. Jacobs insisted that “electricity crisis is the most important infrastructure bottleneck in Nigeria today”, adding that all types of firms in Nigeria experience power outages and 85 percent of them own generators as alternative source of power generation.
“The present condition of manufacturers in this part of Nigeria does not leave much to be cheerful. The efforts of government have continued to totter. We are speedily losing hope”, Jacobs lamented.
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