Why Nigeria's power sector will soon collapse

Why Nigeria's power sector will soon collapse – Elumelu

– Chairman of Transcorp and United Bank for Africa Tony Elumelu has expressed fear over the downward drain of the power sector in Nigeria

– Elumelu said the government is owing Transcopr over N50billion leading to the poor performance of the company

– He said if necessary actions are not taken, the power sector will crash and Nigeria will wallow in total darkness

Tony Elumelu, chairman of Transcorp and the United Bank for Africa, has revealed that Nigeria’s power sector is going down the drain and will soon collapse if necessary actions are not taken by the federal government.

Elumelu stated that the Transcorp is being owed so much money running into almost N50billion and added that if the company includes the invoice for January, the company will be owed close to N55billion.

Power supply is failing in Nigeria

Vanguard is reporting that the agency that is responsible for making sure that the sector delivers optimally is not doing well enough.

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Elumelu said: “We are owed a lot of money. Transcorp Power Holdings is owed almost N50 billion. When we put in the invoice for this month, we should be owed almost N54 billion or N55 billion.

“How do you survive in business like this, how? Other GenCos I know are actually dying.

“We are struggling because of our diversified

resource base, what of others? Something urgent and drastic must be done.

“It is as urgent as yesterday. The truth is that Transcorp Power, as a key operator in the sector, is struggling. And if we are struggling, you can imagine what others are going through.”

Elumelu explained that the challenge began when dollar was N168, but when the dollar rose to N300, there was a mass depletion of value to shareholders.

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He said: “Today, the dollar is N300 officially and N500 on the black market to the dollar so imagine the depletion, the erosion of value to shareholders of Transcorp.”

He added that this development cannot encourage investment in the sector.

He explained that the company initially negotiated with General Electric to bring turbines worth $500million but aborted the plan due to the company’s inability to secure the foreign exchange needed for the business.

360naze