The Federal Government has frowned at the recent report that N24 billion is being lost monthly to imported energy. The government explained that the figure was the amount spent on
importation of diesel, which many Nigerians rely on, to power their
generators.
Minister of State for Power, Sulaiman Hassan, who made this known at
the 24th monthly power sector stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, Monday,
insisted that Nigerians should seek alternative source of energy to
complement government’s effort to improve power supply.
The government, however, insisted that high power consuming homes,
offices and industries must generate their own source of power in order
to enjoy reliable power supply.
He added: “The reports indicated that diesel importation has declined
in the past two years, which is an indication that Nigerians now run
their generators for few hours due to the intervention of other sources
of energy.
“Nevertheless, the report further indicated that 300 million litres
of diesel is being used by Nigerians to power generators every month.
Regrettably, 75 per cent of the diesel is being imported and that had
increased pressure on scarce forex.
“If 40 per cent of the imported diesel used for power generation in
Nigeria is bought at the average retail price of N200 per litre, then
the report that indicated that N24 billion was being lost monthly in the
electricity industry to imported energy was correct.”