The federal government is making frantic efforts to ensure the return of over 60 percent of manufacturing firms, which had exited the national grid.

The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, disclosed yesterday, during the release of a National Integrated Electricity Policy (NIEP) to drive the transformation of Nigeria’s power industry.

At the event, Adelabu estimated that an investment of $32.8 billion is needed in the power sector between now and 2030 to enable the country to achieve universal electricity access.

Adelabu anticipated that of the $32.8 billion funding, $17 billion is expected from the public sector, while about $15.8 billion will be contributed by the private sector.

Adelabu emphasized that bringing back the exited manufacturing companies on the national grid is the only way the government can drive the kind of economic growth and national development that we had in mind at the beginning of this process.

“Today, more than 60 percent of our manufacturing industry is completely off-grid.

“They engage in self-generation, not because they are in rural areas or they are in semi-urban areas, they are in locations where there is access to electricity. But how reliable is this access? We all know that there are a lot of sensitive manufacturing processes that cannot tolerate a one-minute dip in the electricity supply.

“Instead of taking such a risk by connecting to a grid that is not reliable, these industries would rather go for self-generation. I will note the impact of this. It is not cheap.

It is very expensive.“Therefore, our products or commodities being turned out from these factories can never be competitive.

The only way we can allow this to contribute to economic growth, industrialization, and national development is to ensure that there is reliability in grid supply, so that all these companies that are currently off-grid can go back to the grid, and this will reduce their cost of production, it will reduce inflation, and our locally manufactured goods can now compete with imported goods.”

Describing power supply as a strategic driver sector for other critical sectors in the economy, the minister stated that President Bola Tinubu recognized that energy was not merely a commodity but the backbone of economic growth, job creation, industrialization, and national development.

He stressed that the new policy document had been submitted for the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), explaining that by Monday next week, the document will be approved.

Describing power supply as strategic driver sector for other critical sectors in the economy, the minister stated that President Bola Tinubu recognised that energy was not merely a commodity, but the backbone of economic growth, job creation, industrialisation, and national development.

He stressed that the new policy document had been submitted for the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), explaining that by Monday next week, the document will be approved.