http://allafrica.com/stories/200909281059.html

Abuja — N796.4 billion

What Nigerians spend on fuelling generators as alternative power supply every year.

N796.7 billion

What the Federal Government budgeted for capital expenditure for 2009.

Nigerians spend about [size=14pt]N796.4 billion [/size] on fuel to generate electric power every year, the National Electricity Regula-tory Commission (NERC) has said.

This figure is strikingly similar to the federal budget of N796.7 billion for capital expenditure for the current fiscal year.

A breakdown shows that N540.9 billion is spent on diesel and N255.5 billion goes into the purchase of petrol annually for power generating sets.

These facts were contained in a document authored by Assistant General Manager, Project Monitoring Office, Ify Ikeonu.

Although all the details were not available at press time, THISDAY investigations show that of the amount, industries operating under the aegis of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) spend over N350 billion to fuel their generating sets.

Early in the year, the Federal Government came under heavy criticism for budgeting N2 billion to buy, maintain and fuel generators this year.

According to the details of the budget passed by the Senate in December 2008, the Presidency will spend N27 million to fuel its generators and N14.3 million to maintain them.


Other details were: [size=13pt]the National Assembly, fuel, N233 million; National Assembly Office -fuel- N63 million; maintenance, N57.2 million; the National Assembly White House, which houses Chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives - N58 million for fuelling and N55 million for maintenance; the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC), fuel and maintenance - N25.8 million; and Police formations nationwide - fuel and maintenance, N110 million.[/size]


THISDAY did not gain access to the number of generating sets currently in use in the country as contained in the survey report.

There was also some controversy over the actual estimate of what Nigerians spend to fuel their generators because of a recent report that the entire amount was N50 billion.

It has since emerged that the recently reported figure was for Aba, Abia State, alone.

THISDAY gathered that the amount concerning the monetary value of fuel used in Aba was contained in the report of a survey commissioned in 2007 by Geometric Power, Aba. The survey was conducted by National Rural Electricity Cooperative Association (NRECA) in Washington, U.S.A.


Making the clarification about the amount spent by consumers in Aba in the course of THISDAY investigation, Senior Manager, Public Affairs, Geometric Power Limited, Oseloka Zikora, said: "According to statistics, Nigerians spend about N540.9 billion on diesel and N255.5 billion on fuel (petrol) to generate power and not N50 billion as ascribed to Prof Nnaji in newspaper reports."


According to him, "the (about) N50 billion quoted is only the share of Aba industries, commercial and residential consumers' expenditure on fuel and diesel to generate power."

His reference was to a newspaper report which he said quoted the Chairman of Geometric Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, as saying Nigerians spend about N50 billion for fuel to power their electric generating sets every year.

He said the former Minister had to clarify that aspect because it was understood in some quarters to mean that the figure represented what was spent around the country.

Nnaji had explained at a meeting with the Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr. Christopher Anyanwu, that the expenditure pattern in fuelling generators was that residents/small commercial entities spend N14.4 billion on generator fuel while the large industries part with N43.2 billion for the same purpose.

However, in the publication, the fact that the figures were limited to the expenditure in Aba was not expressly stated.

Unreliable power supply in the country has seen most households resort to the use of power generating sets as their primary means of electricity, while the state utility company, Power Holding Company of Nigeria, (PHCN), which is essentially a monopoly, hardly meets up to 20 per cent of the nation's demand. It generates between 2,000mw and 2,500mw.

This has led to a situation where power supply from PHCN is viewed as a standby source, to be used when available, while generators are seen as the principal mode of catering for power needs.

To make PHCN more efficient, it was unbundled into 18 successor companies comprising 11 power generating companies, GenCos, six power distribution companies, DisCos, and one transmission company, Transmission Company of Nigeria.

The country is moving towards a situation where other means of generating power that will involve less expensive fuel, such as solar, are being explored.

Although the initial financial outlay in setting up a solar-powered plant is astronomical, it can last for 25 years without fuel other than solar energy which is captured by the solar panel.



The government also recently signed a contract with a French outfit to establish a wind-fuelled plant in Katsina as a mark of its seriousness to diversify public power supply sources from the traditional hydro and thermal to wind, solar and coal, among others.

To improve power supply however, it has been realised that the private sector must play a critical role, which has led to NERC licensing about 29 independent power producers, IPPs, which are in various stages of completion.

A gas master plan has however been put in place to make gas more readily available to fuel the over 70 per cent of power plants that depend on thermal source of energy.

Ol boy no be small thing ooo. . . .
796Billion

I like this country 2 much,,?

This amounts to almost a quarter of our annual budget each year. Even the federal government does not seem to understand why it is wrong to allocation huge sums year after year for energy generation via generators/inverters, when there are renewable alternatives out that to save the nation money and provide cleaner power.

Sharrap dia "Diasporic" Kobo.

Every Nigerian should see this as not only a massive development for the rich selfish Nigerians and Chinese generator dealers but also for the Nigerian nation as a whole, except of course he/she is an enemy of progress.

N796 billion? WTF!

Now you see why OTEDOLA and co are billionaires.

They found a bunch of suckers <Nigerians> to support their wealthy habit. <then you wonder why their children wear prada glasses>

lol @Nuzo.

Disporans are just bitter than Nigerians have almost $5 billion dollars to spend every single year on generators/generator accessors/diesel/gasoline. Diasporas are evil! lol


And then we wail when more over $16 million Obasanjo regime( over a period of 8 years) squandered on plans that equally didn't amount to much improvement in power supply situation in the country.

Gasoline has been rendered obsolete as a fuel, since STANLEY MEYER proved publicly in 1998, that WATER can fuel any Gasoline Internal Combustion engine.
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A gaseous substance called BROWN'S GAS has been known since the 19th Century. It's formula is HHO. It is obtainable from the Electrolysis of Fresh Water (no electrolytes) with Stainless Steel Electrodes.
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I have no patience with the blockheads who say that things cannot be as reported, because THEY IMAGINE that subsequent events should be as THEY envision- or it NEVER HAPPENED.
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I mean, such people have said, "If this were true, it would be in common usage. Since it isn't, you must be lying!"
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There would be vast armies of Privately-Owned Spies patrolling the Internet, looking for ideas.
When they find one, they report back to their masters, who will put it to their engineers to find a way to reverse-engineer it, back-date their research, and prove that it was their own invention from a long time earlier.
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In the interim, the Agents will do everything in their power to quash that idea in its original cradle,
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As I said, one Stanley Meyer demonstrated that Water could power a car in 1998. He never went into mass-production, because he was assassinated several minutes after his demonstration. The killers stole all his prototypes, and notes from his lab, and disappeared with them.
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Unfortunately for them and their masters, his friends had copies of these notes, and put them up on the Internet- so the murder is coming to naught.
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The supreme laziness of Science and Technology students and lecturers in our country has led to the current poverty.
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Were you to ask them if it were possible to electrolyze Water, and use the product to replace fuel, the most emptyheaded would deny, with laughter.
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The more intelligent would affirm that it would be possible- just not efficient. Three times as much energy would be required to liberate the Hydrogen and Oxygen as would be gained from recombining them.
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At this point, you should ask if THEY had EVER done the experiment themselves.
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The Answer will usually be "No!"
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Most Nigerian students would NEVER even THINK of finding ways of performing the experiments themselves. Nigerians often think backwards: Science students do not usually want to learn Science: what they DO want is to get a Certificate that means someone should give them a job, and plenty of money.
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If they thought they should CREATE THEIR OWN JOBS, instead of being HANDED one, perhaps they would learn to be REAL Scientists?
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At some point, the Whites decided to stop teaching us Science, and start telling us lies. An old lady called Charlotte Iserbyt tells us all about it in her book: THE DELIBERATE DUMBING-DOWN OF AMERICA.
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ASK any Graduate of Science whether they ever tried experiments differently from what was in their textbooks, and they will, of course, say that they had no reason to.
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ALL of the data on ELECTROLYSIS is based on the use of DIRECT CURRENT. You will NEVER find any description of what happens if ALTERNATING CURRENT is used..
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If Alternating Current yielded no results, one would next try HALF-WAVES. At a particular frequency, Water breaks down yielding BROWN'S GAS, HHO..
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This gas burns much hotter than Oxy-Hydrogen. It was used to create refractory substances, and artificial jewels. You find nothing about it in textbooks, because They don't want us to know anything about it.

we spend more than that

WHAT a wonderful nation!!!
All clap for Goodluck now??
He is tirelessly turning Nigeria to GENERATOGERIA or GENEGIRIA?
When a fraudster is the president what do you expect
More expensive (S45m) Bullet proof vans for some Governor THEIVES while masses enjoy near 24 hours PHCN power failure!!!! Wetin concern power miss road Goodluck. Only Re-election concern the Goat.

this country is a major place of misery. having to spend extra money of fueling generators means more demand for.fuel which increases the profits of those pigs in the oil sector. wtf? any1 dat says living in Nigeria is okay is a big fool. enough said..

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