Nigerians Expend N150bn on Power Supply Yearly

A poser industry watcher,Festus Mbisiogu, has revealed that Nigerians expend over N150 billion every year on generating their own electricity for personal and corporate use. Mbisiogu, who disclosed this at a press conference in Lagos recently, said Nigerians were losing huge amount to what the government should ordinarily provide, adding that if such money was plowed into the economy, it would bring in more development. He said the federal government must act to prevent the continuous loss of money, as this has also caused intending investors and businesses to move to other countries where constant power supply is guaranteed. He said: “It is very possible to have uninterrupted power supply in the country if the government and the private investors managing the power sector no longer consider it business as usual.” Mbisiogu, who stressed that about 65 million Nigerians still lack access to electricity even with the unbundling of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to 10 Distribution Companies (Disco) and five Generating Companies (GENCO), called on President Muhammadu Buhari to review government’s relationship with these private investors through improved monitoring, evaluation and setting of targets, which they must meet if they want to continuously be of service to the citizens. According to him, there should be a clear policy that tasks investors on giving Nigerians certain amounts of mega watts, which would form part of their evaluation.