Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has called for stronger collaboration between the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to enhance local production of electricity components. Speaking during a meeting with the ECN management in Abuja, Adelabu emphasized that fostering local production would reduce reliance on imports, conserve foreign exchange, and align with President Bola Tinubu’s vision for the power sector.
Adelabu urged both agencies to form a partnership focused on research and data collection, which would help in planning and improving the sector. He emphasized that President Tinubu’s goal is to stabilize the power sector, which in turn would drive growth across all other sectors of the economy.
“The ECN and REA need to synergize, share research, and build data that will help the sector in local production of electricity components. This is critical to making our power sector more self-sufficient and ensuring that we manufacture key items like meters here,” said Adelabu.
The Minister also highlighted the importance of data, noting that the lack of accurate data remains a major challenge for planning. He revealed plans to establish a central data pool involving all stakeholders, including Generation Companies (GenCos) and Distribution Companies (DisCos), to ensure reliable data for informed decision-making.
Adelabu also stressed the need for local manufacturing capacity, especially in the production of turbines for hydroelectric power generation. He pointed out that Nigeria has over 300 small dams scattered across the country, which can be harnessed to improve the nation’s power supply, but the lack of local turbine production remains a bottleneck.
The ECN’s Director-General, Dr. Mustapha Abdullahi, expressed the agency’s readiness to collaborate with the Ministry of Power to achieve the President’s vision of transforming Nigeria’s power sector and boosting local production in the energy industry.
This push for local manufacturing is part of a broader strategy to reduce Nigeria’s dependency on foreign imports and stimulate economic growth through increased domestic production capabilities in the power sector.
