President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has admitted that the county’s power sector is in a vicious cycle of underperformance and underinvestment.
Tinubu, represented by the Special Adviser, Energy and Infrastructure, Office of the Vice President, Sodiq Wanka, disclosed this Monday at the annual Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry Market Participants and Stakeholder Roundtable in Abuja.
The president decried that 10 years after the privatization of the power sector in November 2013, over 90 million Nigerians still lack access to electricity.
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While lamenting that the sector has suffered chronic underinvestment, especially in transmission and distribution, the president said the DisCos need at least N2 trillion recapitalization to jumpstart performance in this critical value chain.
According to him: “The sector has suffered chronic underinvestment, especially in transmission and distribution. Many of the successor utilities of the PHCN have failed to meet their performance improvement targets due to technical and financial capacity issues.
“We are in a vicious cycle of under-performance and under-investment, and everyone has a different view of which value chain player should be blamed for continued sector malaise.
“Preliminary analysis shows that DISCOS today are under-capitalized to close to N2 trillion.
“We must facilitate a reorganization and a recapitalization process that brings in new partners and capital to jumpstart performance in this critical section of the value chain,” he stated.
