The Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC) revealed on Tuesday that the African economic giant wants to utilise alternative energy resources.
PHOTO/ REUTERS
NAEC chairman Erepamo Osaisai told journalists in Abuja that if accurately executed, a roadmap to provide steady power supply would allow the country to generate electricity from nuclear power plants in the next 10 years.
Osaisai said Nigeria would learn from the mistakes and successes of other countries with nuclear technology.
"All those activities, including development of the requisite human resource base and proper manpower training - because nuclear technology is human capital intensive and you must have people who are very well trained - are essential components that must be addressed first.
"You also may need to have the needed physical infrastructure in the country. These things take time to develop," Osaisai was quoted as saying.
Inadequate infrastructure
Before his appointment, Power Minister Barth Nnaji described the electricity sector in the country as the "headquarters of confusion".
Last week, Nnaji lambasted the sector's inability to maintain the already inadequate infrastructure.
To make matters worse, what we build we don't maintain
"We have today, the store capacity of 8,000 Megawatts (MW) of power, and we are able to generate on the grid 4,000 Megawatts.
"To make matters worse, what we build we don't maintain," Nnaji said.
He complained that only one of the units at the Kainji Dam, one of the country's main hydro electric dams, had been fully overhauled in 40 years after its construction.
"The existing power stations are not producing at their full capacity.
"For instance, Kainji Dam has its two chambers that are not utilised," said Chris Ngige, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Power and Steel Development.
Comparing South Africa and Nigeria
In an interview with This Day newspaper Nnaji said: "When we came in, power generation was about 2,500 megawatts, now power is at 4,000 megawatts.
"While it is a significant increase in terms of percentage ratio, it really isn't where Nigeria is supposed to be because Nigeria is a huge country" he said comparing Africa's most populous country's 4000 MW with South Africa's 40 000 MW.
But at the recent Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, Nnaji assured that the country's electricity supply must reach 7,000 MW between 2013 and 2015.
The minister promised to stabilise and sustain the country's power generation between 2016 and 2020 ahead of its planned nuclear electricity generation.
The implementation of a nuclear power roadmap is a key policy of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
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