Nnaji Calls for States, Private Sector Collaboration on Power Supply

A governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State and former Minister of Power, Prof Barth Nnaji, yesterday called for collaboration between states and the private sector that will enable power regional grids to be put in place for an effective power supply in the country.

Nnaji, who was a guest on The Morning Show programme on ARISE News Channel, was speaking against the backdrop of the power supply challenges in the country. He expressed concern that it’s capital intensive hence the need for states to work with the private sector to build power projects that would make it possible to have constant power.

According to him, “We cannot just have national control of power. You can have national grid, but there be should regional grids and there is nothing in the constitution that stops this from being in place. States don’t have sufficient money to build their own power plant except Akwa Ibom and Rivers States, and to an extent, Lagos State. It is very capital intensive, but if you have regional grids, then states can now work with private sector to build power projects that will make it possible to have constant power.

The former minister recalled what had been done in Aba, Abia State, saying there have been improved power generation, distribution network and infrastructure, as most customers are now metered.

He added: “We are doing an aggressive metering process. So when you have that, you have embedded generation-the power plant that delivers more than the amount of power that you needed within that distribution network. That is what is required to have electricity. You can have that in different places. We can have that just like what we have now in Aba, and have reliable quality electricity so that industries can function and compete with their counterparts elsewhere.”