Nigeria Seeks 200,000 Megawatts of Generating Capacity

Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Johannesburg, South Africa)--Nigeria needs about 200,000 megawatts (MW) to meet its growing population, which is estimated at 170 million, according to Lazarus Angbazo, the chief executive officer of GE Nigeria, a subsidiary of General Electric (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield , Connecticut).

Speaking at a Standard Bank investors' conference in the commercial capital Lagos, Angbazo added that although Nigeria is growing at a rate of 7% annually, the country is doing so with almost no power generation output when compared with other rapidly advancing nations.

Nigeria's consistent power generation output is about 4,000 MW against an average demand in excess of 200,000 MW, while South Africa, which has a population of about 50 million people, less than a third of Nigeria's population, generates more than 45,000 MW of electricity.

"Texas alone generates over 34,000 MW, nearly 10 times more electricity than the whole of Nigeria," Angbazo said. "New York, with a population of 8 million people, requires a daily supply of 200,000 MW, 50 times more than we presently generate for 170 million people."

The country's power deficit is the bane of rapid economic development, industrialization and job creation. But, said Angbazo, there is a light at the end of the tunnel as the government is trying to turn around the power sector with a "well thought-out" power sector reform plan.

Nigeria is one of six African countries set to benefit from the U.S "Power Africa" initiative, which aims to increase power generation capacity by 10,000 MW in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya Liberia and Tanzania in the Sub-Saharan region, which has a total population of 800 million. Nigeria is aiming to have 8,000 to 10,000 MW of capacity by 2015.

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