Buhari: Nigerians should expect better electricity supply in 2020

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked Nigerians to expect significant improvement in electricity supply across the country in 2020.

In his New Year’s message on Wednesday, Buhari said his administration will create solutions to help separate parts of the power sector value chain to work better.

The president said the next 12 months will witness the gradual implementation of the actions.

Nigeria currently generates less than 5,000 megawatts (MW) of power, and less than 4,000MW is supplied to citizens.

In 2019, the national electricity grid collapsed more than 10 times causing frequent power outages in the country.

“Power has been a problem for a generation. We know we need to pick up the pace of progress. We have solutions to help separate parts of the value chain to work better together,” Buhari said.

“In the past few months, we have engaged extensively with stakeholders to develop a series of comprehensive solutions to improve the reliability and availability of electricity across the country.

“These solutions include ensuring fiscal sustainability for the sector, increasing both government and private sector investments in the power transmission and distribution segments, improving payment transparency through the deployment of smart meters and ensuring regulatory actions maximise service delivery.

“We have in place a new deal with Siemens, supported by the German government after German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited us in Abuja, to invest in new capacity for generation, transmission and distribution. These projects will be under close scrutiny and transparency – there will be no more extravagant claims that end only in waste, theft and mismanagement.

“The next 12 months will witness the gradual implementation of these actions, after which Nigerians can expect to see significant improvement in electricity service supply reliability and delivery. Separately, we have plans to increase domestic gas consumption.

“In the first quarter of 2020, we will commence work on the AKK gas pipeline, OB3 Gas pipeline and the expansion of the Escravos – Lagos Pipeline.”