‘Only 5% of Nigerians have access to power’

DigitalSENSE Business News:

Only five per cent of 170 million Nigeria have access to electricity DigitalSENSEBusiness news authoritatively reports.

This is coming as the country needs an annual investment of $4 billion (about N647, 799,988,000) over a ten year period.

The Managing Director, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Ramesh Naravanan who stated this at the business luncheon for chief executives organised by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Apapa Branch in Lagos, said the investment which will cover generation, distribution and transmission would use up about 70 per cent investment into plant machinery while the other 30 per cent will be into construction.

According to Naravanan, only five per cent of Nigeria’s 170 million people have access to electricity available to the 11 discos while the rest of the population are still battling with energy needs.

Naravanan who said that the investment will open up opportunities in the nation’s manufacturing sector further called on the federal government to organise capacity building programmes to train and equip Nigerians with the necessary skills to reap the benefits of the investment.

The MD said the investment would also generate new direct and indirect job opportunities in the country, urging private and public academia to rise up to the challenge to train more engineers to fill up the job opportunities the investment will offer.

Chukwudi obi

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