Nigeria needs trillions of naira to have steady power – Prof.Onuoha

The Associate Head of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, Professor Igwe Onuoha said it will take the nation trillions of naira in order to get the required megawatts that will give every Nigerian uninterrupted power supply.

He said that there is a very wide gap between “our capacity at the moment and what Nigerians actually need. There are distinctively specific things that Nigerians need to put in place in other to increase the generation but it is an expensive venture for a nation of 160 million people”.


He said this at the event for Engineering students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), during a seminary organized by SciEtech University Outreach.

According to him

“We are a country of over 160 million people; our grid is testing to sustain 5000 megawatts. 5000 megawatts means that you have 5 million watts of energy in the grid.

“If we are a 100 million, it means that every 100 people in Nigeria will have only one lamp. So if you have 5000 megawatts in the grid you can only support 100 people having only one lamp. If you want 100 people to have each a lamp, you multiply 5000 by 100 it gives you 500, 000 megawatts.

“On the average, one million dollars will give you one megawatt so if you want 100 megawatts you need 100 million dollars. The exponential multiplication means that you need far large amount of money to be able to generate power to make sure that every Nigerian has a lamp. We will be able to reach that point when we are able to get all the money to make that level of investment. 

“But there are several sectors in our economy begging for commitment, so if we are going to close other sectors of the economy and concentrate on power, it means that you are going to have enough money to generate enough power for 160 million people”he stated.

Vanguard