Senate Orders Committee To Probe Power Failure In Nigeria

The leadership of the Senate has ordered it committee on power to probe the electricity generating companies over incessant electricity failure across the country.

The upper chamber gave four weeks to its committee to unravel the problem in the power sector and submit it report to the house for considerations.

This decision was reached sequel to a motion raised by Sen.Chukwuka Utazi, (PDP-Enugu North), during plenary on Tuesday.

He noted that Nigeria, with a population of 200 million and an annual growth rate of 2.6 per cent per annum, is the seventh most populous nation on earth. Adding that, the power generating or installed capacity of Nigeria in relation to its population and Gross Domestic Product cannot place the country to compete favourably in terms of development with other nations.

Citing Indonesia and Philippines as examples, the lawmaker noted that both countries with a population of 267 million and 107 million, respectively, have installed power capacity of 60,000 MW and generating a capacity of 42,465 MW as well as installed capacity of 20,055 MW and generating capacity of 16,271ME.

He also noted Nigeria needed to systematically tackle the issue of power failure across the country by utilizing the natural position of each zones.

Utazi said “The northern part of the country with vast expanse of land can tap into large solar farms while the southern parts of the country with significant reserves of natural gas and coal can generate power from same.

“Both the north and South have large water bodies that can still be dammed for hydro.”

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Meanwhile, Senator Olurrmi Tunubu, however, stressed that Nigeria was suffering from power failure because of the refusal of the government to embrace new ideas.

She said “Government should embrace new ideas that would take Nigeria to the next level.”