Nigeria needs $10 billion in private investment in the power sector, over the next five to 10 years, to achieve 24-hour power supply, the Federal Government has said.

It stated that it could not alone afford the required $10 billion, with other critical sectors in need of funding.

The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu declared the FG’s position when the Director-General of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Dr Jobson Ewalefoh, paid him a courtesy visit according to a statement yesterday by the Acting Head of Media and Publicity of the Commission, Mr Ifeanyi Nwoko.

Adelabu said: “Government cannot do it alone; this is why we have to look for organised private sector funding, while still retaining government interest and ownership.

“That is where ICRC comes in. We need to do this in collaboration with the private sector and the best way is through concession.” Ewalefoh stated that the challenges in the power sector were many, adding that the government alone cannot effectively fund it.

He underscored the importance of functional power supply and added that it was necessary to attract private sector input through Public Private Partnership to improve power services in the country.

He harped on the imperativeness of optimising performance of existing infrastructure as well as funding new ones was imperative, so as to boost power delivery which he stated was pivotal to the national economic development.

He stated that interagency collaboration and partnership with the private sector were needed to address the challenges in the sector.

Ewalefoh said that through ICRC’s regulatory processes, the agency could facilitate private sector investment to raise part of the $10 billion required in the sector for regular electricity provision.

According to him, the ICRC could also attract more foreign direct investment to other sectors and ultimately grow the economy.