Federal government of Nigeria says it has signed agreement with Russia, Pakistan, France and South Korea for the construction of nuclear power plants which would generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity for the country.
This was disclosed on Tuesday by the Director General, Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Dr. Yau Idris while speaking at the ongoing Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) in Abuja.
He stressed that Nigeria has all it takes to manage nuclear power plant
“It is wrong to think that Nigeria can’t manage a nuclear power plant.
“There are mechanisms put in place that ensure any country can build a nuclear power plant,” Dr. Idris said.
He explained that Nigeria has been making efforts to diversify its sources of power since 1977, building nuclear power that would add additional 4,000 megawatts would increase the Nigeria’s power generation capacity to about 13,000 megawatts.
The Executive Director of Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited, Mr Ifeoluwa Oyedele, who also spoke at the Summit, said lack of synergy across the power sector value chain is responsible for the lower performance of the sector.
He blamed lack of infrastructure for transmission and distribution to customers for inability of the power generation companies to transmit more than 5,000 megawatts to the national grid.
He said his company is willing to sell power directly to consumers especially those at industrial clusters.
In October 2017, Nigeria signed agreement with Russia state owned nuclear energy company, Rosatom at a meeting in Abu Dhabi, UAE to build nuclear power plant in Nigeria. More than 4 years down the line, the project is yet to commence.