Nigeria making moves to increase power supply -minister

The Nigerian government said it will ensure that consumers of electricity will get the digital meter in the due cause as it was ensuring that the business is being expanded to include other private firms outside the distribution companies, minister of works, power, and housing has said.

"We are taking the business of metering beyond the power distribution firms to other operators," Babatunde Fashola said on a morning TV programme in Lagos.
He said the government has increased power generation from 2.500 MW inherited to about 7,000 MW and also working hard to expand the production capacity to ensure every home in the country have access to supply.
He said the country did not have a mix of power generation previously, but the government is now committed to developing power mix with the development of hydro-power, solar and gas power plants across the country.
"There is no regulation that allows private business to go into metering business and once the regulation is in place, there will be more meters," Fashola said.
Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy has continued to confront power shortage with more than half of the population have no access to supply.
The minister admitted that the process of incremental power generation and distributions are work in progress, but noted that his ministry has moved beyond where the sector was prior to his ascension office.