7th July, 2017
An energy expert, Mr Teslim Balogun has charged the Federal Government and universities to channel more energy on alternative solar energy to arrest the power problems in the country.
Balogun told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Ilorin that one of the causes of erratic power supply in the country was not power generation but transmission.
He said that almost 50 per cent of power generated was always lost before transmission could successfully reach its destination.
“For the past 20 years in Nigeria, billions of dollars have been pumped into power generation and we have been generating a lot but one of the key problems is transmission.
“While transmitting it, Nigeria loses 50 per cent, so if for example 1, 000 megawatts was generated, it is reduced to 500 megawatts during transmission process.
“When you get to the distribution company, some areas do not even have transformers; some houses are not even connected to electricity at all.
“A lot of sabotage has been happening in different areas of generating and transmitting in Nigeria, so why not look for simple way that will be like decentralising all these things?
“ The funds spent so far by the Federal Government in good faith are not channeled to the right places.
“If the government had channeled funds to plan how to supply electricity to different areas through solar power and hydro power, they can supply the states around that area,’’ Balogun said.
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He said that aside the Federal Government, universities also have a big role to play in the provision of alternative energy.
Balogun said universities could engage in energy projects in collaboration with energy companies to supply the communities they are situated in.
“For example, if the Kwara State University (KWASU) is generating 100 megawatts, the whole of Kwara state and neighbouring states around Kwara can benefit from them.
“ If each university in Nigeria can do what KWASU has just started, we have about 129 universities in Nigeria, that means we will get about 12,900 megawatts from universities alone.
“So imagine the state government doing the same, that means we won’t be where we are today in terms of power supply,” he said.
NAN reports that KWASU had on July 5 signed 150 million dollars Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Africa Group on energy solutions to generate 100 megawatts of electricity.