Naija24News: Interview - Investors Are Bullish Over Nigeria’s Power Gains, – Paul Hinks, CEO, Symbion Power

Let’s start with Nigeria, with great potential but also major challenges. Why are you doing business there?

Nigeria is a country of 173 million people, the largest in Africa – 173 million people, a large majority of which don’t have access to affordable electricity basically. All over the country, people use diesel generators. The cost of producing power by burning diesel is something like $0.35 to $0.45 per kilowatt depending on location. But Nigeria has abundant natural resources – coal, gas, renewables – and of course solar. There is plenty of land where biomass can be planted, and there is hydro. They don’t have to import really expensive diesel – that’s crazy – and it’s happening right across the African continent. Liquid fuel importation is a major source of corruption. If countries focused on getting rid of diesel for power supplies, they would save an absolute fortune. We have a policy at Symbion, which is that we prefer to rely on indigenous fuel resources. It’s only in emergencies that we will consider diesel. Our view is if locally available, cheaper fuel sources are used, rather than imports, It’s the best thing a country can do.

Read the full interview HERE.