Manufacturers seek special policy for power generation.

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria,(MAN) has asked the Federal Government to approve a policy which it says would bridge huge gaps in power supply to industries.

The Association made the plea when it submitted to the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the report of a ‘Technical Committee on Operationalisation of Micro-Grid for Industrial Cluster Initiative’.

The committee was inaugurated two weeks ago by NERC and mandated to take a critical look at the energy laws in Nigeria.

The committee was also required to come up with implementable policies and regulations that would address the numerous power challenges facing industries, especially the manufacturing sector.

The Chairman of the Technical Committee, Engineer Reginald Odiah said manufacturers currently losing nearly 73million naira monthly due to irregular power supply, and this in turn, has increased the cost of production.

“Over 40% of our production cost goes into the provision of electricity supply for our manufacturing. When other infrastructural deficiencies are added, Nigeria becomes one of the most expensive countries in the world to set up a manufacturing venture”.

According to him, through the Micro-Grid plan, power supply to industries and manufacturers would be available and reliable, thereby ‘bringing down the cost of production and encourage job creation’, adding that it would improve the 15,000mw of electricity which the manufacturers are currently producing.

Earlier, the Chairman of NERC, Dr Sam Amadi, expressed happiness and appreciation to the committee for preparing the report and coming out with the report on time.

He assured the committee that the report would be submitted to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, for approval.

Mr Frank Jacob, President of MAN, said that there were 28 industrial clusters in Nigeria, adding that the association spent N73 million every month on power generation to manufacture goods in the clusters.

Jacob explained that with adequate supply of electricity, the association would manufacture more goods and the economy would be better and people enjoy improved standard of living.