Nigeria invests over $1 billion in energy to stop companies from moving to Ghana

The Nigerian government has invested over ₦177 billion approximately over one billion dollars in subsidies in the country’s energy sector in the last three years in a bid to boost power supply to keep multinationals from moving out of the country to Ghana.

A report by ThisDay quoted Osun State Governor, prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola as saying that multinational companies are relocating to Ghana because of Nigeria’s current power sector problems.

The administrator of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) also said that despite the subsidies from the government the sector had witnessed no investment for over 20 years prior to 1999.

Nigeria’s power industry equally witnessed weak maintenance and damaged or obsolete equipment, while as at 1999 only 19 out of 79 installed generation units were in operation, the report said.

Nigeria’s perennial power supply problem is phenomenal affecting everyday life and industry, and it is believed to have forced a number of industries in the country to relocate to Ghana, which also has its own power problems, but it’s managed better than the Nigerian situation.

Meanwhile, even though the issue of companies relocating from Nigeria to Ghana has been coming up every now and then, some Nigerians have denied it. They claim it is propaganda by opposition elements and it is not based on facts on the ground.

However, a Ghanaian official of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre has been quoted to have said in Nigeria recently that 60% of all foreign investments in Ghana come form Nigerian busineses.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi