Dangote Group, BUA Group, Larfarge Cement, Honeywell and few other manufacturing plants across Nigeria are generating more than 15,000 megawatts of electricity used by the companies off the national grid in what expert define as captive power.
This was made known by Dr. Lazarus Angbazo, President and CEO of General Electric (GE) Nigeria in a recent interview.
According Angbazo, the captive power of 15,000mw is sufficient for the private companies to operate.“When I say they are captive, I am talking about consumer industrial groups that are self-generating, like the Dangote Cement, Bua Cement, Lafarge Cement and others,” explained Angbazo.
He attributed inefficient power supply to the groups’ commitment to private power plants so as to ensure their operations are not affected by epileptic supply of electricity in the country.
“We are in partnership with Dangote, for example, on Obajana, Ibese, Shagamu and Gboko and we are the one providing the power,” Angbazo was quoted by ThisDay in the interview.
Angbazo explained that the groups have been able to continuously produce the quantity of electricity required for their operations due to their financial muscle, citing Dangote, which is Africa’s largest producer of cement as an example.
He hinted that the 11 distribution companies (DISCOs) in Nigeria, with financial boutance, can generate power within their own networks without going through the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy with over 170 million people, has continued to struggle in producing less than 4,000 MW of electricity, a dismal figure when the mandatory 150,000MW that Nigeria needs to have light for 24 hour every day.