Osibanjo Can’t Understand Shortage of Gas for Nigeria’s Power Plants

• Says 3,132MW of electricity still constrained by lack of gas supply

Chineme Okafor in Abuja

Vice President Yemi Osibanjo on Monday said it was still an irony to him that Nigeria cannot provide enough natural gas molecules needed by her thermal power plants in the south to generate electricity for use by her homes and industries.

He said the development was despite Nigeria’s reported huge deposit of natural gas reserves of 180 trillion cubic feet (tcf) which places her at the ninth position in the league of countries with huge gas reserves in the world.

The vice president spoke at the ninth annual conference of the Nigerian Association of Energy Economics (NAEE) in Abuja. The conference which was organised in conjunction with the International Association of Energy Economics (IAEE) was centered on the roles natural gas and renewable energy can play in energising emerging economies.

Osibanjo stated at the conference that because of Nigeria’s inability to provide gas for her thermal electricity generation plants, the country currently has up to 3,132 megawatts (MW) of available electricity generation capacity constrained from getting into the national grid.

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