Prof Abubakar Sani Sambo sheds light on energy supply situation in Nigeria
. As the energy expert speaks at ANSEN public lecture in ABU
President of the Nigerian Academy of Science, Prof Abubakar Sani Sambo, has shed light on Nigeria’s energy supply situation, stressing that Nigeria must brace up and significantly improve the nation’s electricity supply.
Sambo, who was a one time Director-General of the Energy Commission of Nigeria, noted that even though Nigeria’s electricity access stands at about 62 percent, the current installed generation capacity is about 14,000 MW.
Presenting a public lecture at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria organised by the Academy of Natural Science and Engineering in Nigeria (ANSEN), the Professor Emeritus, however, said that the actual generation capacity is about 7,500 MW.
Sambo, an ABU-trained engineer and a World class professor of mechanical engineering, spoke on ‘Energy Security and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: The Way Forward for the State Governments’.
He explained that electricity despatched to the grid for distribution to customers ranges between 4,000 – 5,000 MW which works out to an annual average electricity consumption per capita for the over 200 million Nigerians of 175.2 – 219 kWh.
A 2019 analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA), according to him, shows that the average annual electricity consumption for the sub-Saharan Africa was 500 kWh while for the whole World it was 2,604 kWh.
Prof Sambo further explained that for Nigeria to be at sub-Saharan Africa’s average annual electricity consumption per capita of 500 kWh will require the nation’s electricity generation to be about 11,500 MW.
The energy expert also said that for it to be at the World average annual figure of 2,604 kWh will require electricity generation of about 59,000 MW, pointing out that an electricity supply of at best 5,000 MW is extremely inadequate for a population of more than 220 million Nigerians.
He said that Nigeria, according to the report of the IEA of 2019, had an electricity access rate of 62 percent which made it number 17 out of the 55 African nations.
Prof Sambo also said that a study conducted by the World Energy Council where he once served as the Vice-Chair for Africa fingered inadequate infrastructure on good ground and their low local contents as one of the major challenges bedeviling electrification in Africa.
Other challenges, he further said, included inadequate indigenous human and manufacturing capacities, shortage of funds for the investments needed into energy development, inadequacies in energy policies, plans, laws and regulatory mechanisms, as well as lack of good governance and adequate political will for development.
On climate change, Prof Sambo said that the aim of the United Nations is to ensure that emissions from the global economic sectors are such that global warming is limited to 1.5 degree centigrade so that climate change complications will not disrupt the World.
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Public Affairs Directorate,
Office of the Vice-Chancellor,
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (NAM)
Tuesday, 4th March, 2025
