The Dangers of Relying on a One-Dimensional Strategy for Power Supply

The present government has long declared that it is going to surprise Nigerians come December 2009 by increasing the nation's power generation to 6000 megawatts. However its insistence on relying on gas powered plants only to achieve this goal has again proven to put those plans into jeopardy as gas supply to the country's largest power plant has been disrupted reducing the country meager output of just 2400 megawatts to 1900 megawatts.

One wonders if the honourable minister for power has any contingency plans in place should in case their one track strategy gets knocked off its path. Shouldn't Nigeria be using a multi-faceted approach to solve its power problems from all angles. We are struggling to exploit our vast gas reserves to meet current demand, let alone have any to power the number of gas plants the government has supposedly made provisions for.

It will be interesting to see if the goal of 6000 megawatts will actually be met, but then again maybe not for the millions of suffering Nigerians and local businesses.