“The privatization of the power sector was a significant step towards addressing the challenges faced by the nation in this critical area,” he said.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, on Monday, said the epileptic electricity supply is a hindrance to the country’s economic development.

Mr Tajudeen disclosed this at the 10th year anniversary of the privatisation of Nigeria’s power sector and the 1st Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) market participants and stakeholders roundtable (NMPSR) held in Abuja on Monday.

Nigeria has struggled with poor power supply for decades, a challenge that is estimated to cost businesses about $29 billion yearly, according to the World Bank.

The country has the lowest access to electricity globally, with about 92 million persons out of the country’s 200 million population lacking access to power, according to the Energy Progress Report 2022 released by Tracking SDG 7.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Tajudeen, represented by Victor Nwokolo, the Chairman House Committee on Power said that power continues to be a significant obstacle to the country’s national development.

Despite the progress made, he said the problem of inadequate power supply remains persistent and seemingly insurmountable.

“The privatization of the power sector was a significant step towards addressing the challenges faced by the nation in this critical area. It aimed to introduce competition, efficiency, and innovation into the sector, with the ultimate goal of providing reliable and affordable electricity to all citizens.

“While there have been notable improvements in certain aspects, such as increased generation capacity and reduced transmission losses. We must acknowledge that there is still much work to be done,” he said.

“There is no gainsaying that one of the factors that have hindered economic development in our country is epileptic electricity supply and lack of some other basic infrastructure,” he said.

He added that the current estimation of energy delivery of 4,000 Mega Wax (MW) to a population of over two hundred million (200,000,000) Nigerians is grossly inadequate and falls short of efficient service and limits business opportunities, hinders investments and raises the cost of production and goods for consumers.

“We must delve into why privatization has succeeded in other countries but has not yielded the same results in Nigeria. Additionally, we need to understand why smaller neighbouring countries that rely on Nigeria for electricity have stable power supply while we continue to experience frequent outages.”

He said it is crucial to identify the mistakes the country has made and determine what actions need to be taken by the government to ensure the success of this sector.

“These are just a few of the many questions that should be answered during this conference. By the end of our three-day brainstorming session, it is my hope that we will come up with plausible solutions that will turn around the tide of epileptic power supply in the country.

“As representatives of the people, we are deeply concerned about the issue of electricity supply in Nigeria. Despite the efforts made by the legislature over the years to enact legislation that provides legal support to the operations of the power sector, numerous challenges persist,” he said.

In response to these challenges, he said the 10th House of Representatives has prioritized the power sector in its Legislative Agenda.

“The aim is to address issues such as insufficient generation and transmission capacity, energy theft, inefficient distribution, tariffs, and corruption, among others.

“The House will equally prioritize investments in the transmission and distribution infrastructure to reduce technical and non-technical losses; decentralize energy productions by promoting off-grid solutions, especially in rural areas where grid connectivity is challenging: strengthen legislation to increase penalties for energy theft, meter tampering and vandalism of energy infrastructure.

“Adopt legislative measures to promote renewable energy through tax incentives, grants for investments in renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro and mandate regular and transparent audits of all entities in the energy sector to curb corruption in the industry,” he said.