We need $10bn annually for five years to revive power sector – Minister

We need $10bn annually for five years to revive power sector – Minister

A total of $10 billion is needed yearly in the next 10 years to revive the nation’s power sector, Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has said.

He said this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Power for investigative hearing over the recent electricity tariff hike by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

The minister said, “For this sector to be revived, government need to spend nothing less than 10 billion dollars annually in the next 10 years.

“This is because of the infrastructure requirement for the stability of the sector.

“But government can not afford that. And so we must make this sector attractive to investors and to lenders.

“So for us to attract investors and investment, we must make the sector attractive, and the only way it can be made attractive is that there must be commercial pricing.

“If the value is still at N66 and government is not paying subsidy, the investors will not come. But now that we have increased tariff for a Band, there are interests being shown by investors.”

He urged the lawmakers to support the process of paying the debt owed operators across the value chain of generation, transmission and distribution.