Dangote to address Nigeria's power supply problems by providing 12,000MW by 2018

AFRICA'S richest man Alhaji Aliko Dangote has revealed plans by his company to generate 12,000 megawatts of electricity for Nigeria by 2018 as part of an ambitious programme to address the nation's chronic power shortage.

 

Nigeria has been dogged by epileptic power supply over recent decades, leading it to becoming the world's largest importer of medium and small generators and the second largest importer of large ones.  Despite repeated government attempts to address the issue, limited generated power and a poor distribution network has led to the problem defying all solutions.

 

Yesterday, speaking in Lagos on Monday at the Nigerian Economic Summit organised by Economist Events, an arm of The Economist of London, Alhaji Dangote said that his Dangote Industries, will step into the fray. He also added that his company would start selling foreign exchange to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by 2020.

 

Alhaji Dangote said: “We are looking at a situation that by 2020, we will be the one selling foreign exchange to the CBN. Our projects are mainly import substitution and we are working to be self-sufficient to grow about a million tonnes of rice over the next five years.

 

 “Our gas project would have our gas pipelines on the seabed and the output should be able to provide about 12,000MW of power. We see a lot of transformation when we are done with most of our projects by 2018."

 

He added that the government must come up with the right policies to facilitate this to enable proper diversification of the Nigerian economy. According to Dangote, the monthly revenue inflow from oil, which used to be $3.2bn, is now around $1bn and this has caused a number of challenges for businesses in the country.

 

Alhaji Dangote added: “There are some areas where we are facing serious challenges and there are some where we are not. It depends on your business model as if your business model is to import 100%, definitely, you will be facing challenges because the inflow of foreign exchange is not where it used to be a year and a half ago.”

 

Okechukwu Enelamah, the minister of industry, trade and investment, said the federal government was focusing on creating an enabling business environment to attract investment and fast-track industrialisation. He noted that efforts were being made to give adequate support to micro, small and medium-scale enterprises.