By Dipo Olowookere
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), Dr Marilyn Amobi, has said the country cannot achieve its target of 20,000 megawatts of electricity target by the year 2020.
Mrs Amobi, while fielding questions from members of the House of Representatives Committee on Power led by Mr Dan Asuquo, also noted that deploying nuclear and wind energy in Nigeria would remain a mirage.
She told the lawmakers, who paid her agency a working visit, that the 20,000MW target was capital intensive, stressing there is no way the country will meet up within the time frame.
“We cannot run nuclear in Nigeria, and the question of wind energy, forget it. It’s just a story. We cannot run all that in Nigeria. It’s just a wish list (because Nigeria is not financially buoyant enough for such venture),” Mrs Amobi emphasised.
However, Mr Asuquo queried the mode of engagement of 14 companies by NBET under its Power Purchase Agreements (PPA).
“If there was no proper guideline, the process of acquiring those 14 companies was null and void. I can assure you if we leave here with that, there’ll be an investigation on this. If the standard is not in line with global best practices, of course, there will be a lot of questions. Whoever directed such a thing, will appear before us,” the lawmaker said.
But Mrs Amobi told the congressmen that the in-house guideline produced in 2011 in accordance with global standards was used for the engagement of the companies.
She noted that it would not be used in future as a new guideline is being developed.
Adedapo Adesanya