ABUJA (Federal Ministry of Power Report) – The President of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria, Frank Jacobs (Dr) has described the Power Ministry as a strategic partner in the development and growth of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria.
He made the acknowledgement at the Ministry’s Headquarters on Monday November 3, 2014 while noting the positive role of the power sector for the performance of manufacturing; saying it has been demonstrated in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution and capacity utilization.
Frank Jacobs commended President Goodluck Jonathan’s Administration for the bold steps taken in the sector, stressing that with the support of the Power Ministry and other line agencies, the manufacturing sector is set for better performance. He further observed that in-spite of some noticeable improvements in electricity supply; industrial areas have not fared better as many depend on the purchase of exorbitant diesel to power industrial generating sets. He inferred that this practice which is pushing up cost has been out-rightly uneconomical.
Man President also requested the Minister to intervene into the reviewed MYTO II released in June 2014, where the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) failed to address its discriminatory fixed and average charges, demanding that the rate should either be brought down or prorated on the amount of energy consumed. He observed that this request is based on the understanding that the current policy regime is choking on Small and Medium-Scale Industries.
Responding to the request, the Minister of Power, Chinedu Nebo (Professor) assured the NAN delegation that NERC under his watchful eyes will not be allowed to profiteer on Nigerians as Government will put mechanisms in place to assist small and medium-scale enterprises to grow in leaps and bounds. He further appealed to Man to sensitize its members on the need to invest in renewable energy. Adding, some companies can effectively power their plants using solar since it is now time for Nigerian businesses to look outside the box and in the future whatever they invest will be recovered. “Diesel is not the solution; we must utilize our God-given potentials to drive our industrial revolution,” he stated.
According to him, Germany and some other countries do not have half the intensity, yet solar energy has been utilized effectively by their companies. He intensified that there is integrated system now which combines biomass, solar and inverter. “Studies have shown that many industrial concerns in Nigeria presently spend large amount of their production cost on diesel. In a matter of years, money invested to build solar power plants could be regained after which industries will be using free electricity,” the Minister informed.
Chinedu Nebo stated that the Nigerian President has shown incredible commitment to improving electricity generation and hopefully the leap in quantum will be sustained. He as well assured the visiting MAN delegation of working together on the synergy that is critical to lifting the industrial sector to greater heights. While promising the Ministry’s renewed assistance to manufacturing, he said that the help is to enable them obtain the alternative energy sources mix that would be cost-effective in the powering of plants.
“The Ministry is ready to do presentations to manufacturing companies on different modules and to facilitate contacts with genuine investors that would be interested in power projects around industrial clusters. Support should be offered to the new Government initiative on energy saving bulbs as studies have revealed that 70% energy consumed could be saved and utilized in powering industries.
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