Over 82m Nigerians lack access to electricity – Energy expert Austin Avuru

The Chairman of AA Holdings and Chief Executive Officer of Platform Petroleum Limited, Mr Austin Avuru, and other energy experts have lamented the inaccessibility of electricity to 82 million Nigerians in the country, emphasising that steps should be taken to make energy more accessible and affordable.

Avuru made the remark while presenting a keynote speech at the Third edition of Dr. Diran Fawibe annual lecture series themed ‘Development of National Framework and Partnerships for Sustainable Energy Access and Security’, held at Ogunlana Hall, International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.

The lecture was organised by the Centre for Petroleum Energy, Economy and Law, CPEEL, and the University of Ibadan (UI).

According to him, out of about 200 million Nigerians, “82 million Nigerians do not have access to electricity. But if they have access, they would not be able to afford what is charged. If you have that 20-watt yellow bulb in your rooms, you can’t pay. When we talk about energy access, we must also be able to talk about affordability. Energy must be available and accessible before we talk about security.”

Speaking on how recommendations at the lecture series would get the attention of leaders for policy implementation, he said, “Not just on this topic of energy security. On every issue at all, it will have an impact on the economy. The first thing is that we must keep on discussing. It’s not the case that if the people who are policymakers are not sitting in the hall, we should not talk. No, knowledge must first be disseminated by those who have it and ultimately, that knowledge will go round, including to those who are in the position of policy making. It could form part of policies tomorrow.”

Further addressing the unbundling of the energy transmission sector for more efficiency, he said: “We have one humongous national grid where you generate electricity. The one in Osogbo, we have now discovered, is too complex and inefficient. We should have small grids that are more efficient. The national grid, as it is configured today, is inefficient in solving our problems. It generates around 7,000 megawatts, but only about 4,000 megawatts of that gets to the consumers. It is completely unacceptable.”

The Chairman, International Energy Services Ltd, Dr. Diran Fawibe, corroborated the keynote speaker by reiterating that measures will be taken to ensure the recommendations at the lecture get to the policy makers.

“The proceedings of this engagement will be carefully put together and sent to them because if there’s no follow up action on these proceedings, if they are not aware of what notable Nigerians and people who have intellectual capacity and professional experience have said about the problem of energy poverty in Nigeria, then the exercise would be in vain. The alarming rate of the consequences of energy poverty is very clear,” Fawibe said.

President of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Rahamon Bello, who chaired the event, remarked that the theme of the lecture was apt and timely to “providing various options for energy transition in Nigeria with petroleum still being the largest revenue base for the nation.”