FG SEEKS N147TRN TO GROW POWER, GAS INFRASTRUCTURE IN 30YRS

The country would need an estimated $900 billion (N146, 565 trillion) investment to grow its infrastructures in power, oil and gas sectors and sustain them, the federal government has said. Chairman/CEO of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), Mr Erepamo Osaisai, disclosed this while conducting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)Deputy Director General, Technical Cooperation, Mr Kwaku Aning, round its nuclear power infrastructure centre in Sheda, Abuja, yesterday. He said: “Estimates using international benchmarks suggest $900billion will be required over the next 30 years to achieve the specific sector targets – USD 550billion (about N89,611trillion)for power and USD 350billion (about N56,997trillion)for oil and gas, which includes maintenance cost.” Osaisai noted that Nigeria has an abundance of most of the energy sources (fossil fuels, hydro, (nuclear is missing) solar, tidal, geothermal, and biomass) for power generation, which if properly harnessed can meet the country’s energy needs and generate export revenue. He lamented the current per capita electricity generation which he said is among the lowest in the world, limiting economic growth and productivity. “In order to achieve the goals and objectives of the energy sector, Nigeria needs to increase its investment in energy infrastructure,” he said. The nuclear boss stated that the federal government first mulled the idea of deploying Nuclear Power Programme (NPP) in 2007 to generate electricity in 10 to 12 years so as to introduce nuclear energy as an important component in the national energy mix both to increase and diversify the power generation base and other peaceful application base. He said: “Meticulous implementation of TF envisages commercial operation of first NPP (1,000MWe) in 2022 and gradually increase nuclear capacity to four NPPs (4,000MWe) by 2030.” DAILY TRUST