Shell counters Fashola, says Nigerians, SMEs enjoy less than four hours power supply

Contrary to claims by the Minister for Works, Power, and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) has said Nigerians including small businesses have access to power supply that lasts less than four hours daily.

The Minister had during a live TV programme on Channels TV said some states now enjoy 24-hour electricity supply.

He added that Kebbi and Yobe States were under this category.

But the Managing Director of the oil giant, Bayo Ojulari, said that approximately 70 per cent of Nigerian households do not enjoy daily electricity supply.

He said, to bridge this gap, the country would need between 30 to 175GW (Gigawatt) of electricity at a cost of between $40 to $200bn.

Read also: DSDP scheme has saved us $2.2bn —NNPC

Ojulari was speaking during a presentation at the recently concluded 2019 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum in Abuja.

He added that 70 per cent of the country’s installed generation capacity was lost before it reached the customers.

He noted that the power sector was basically driven by ageing equipment, maintenance systems and culture, as well as insufficient funding.

According to him, this forms the basis of the country’s economic woes in health, education, insecurity, agriculture, unemployment and food security.

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