Abuja– In 2008, President Umaru Musa YarÁdua assured Nigerians that the country would attain 6,000 MW of electricity generation by December 31, 2009. A Power Committee was set-up and mandated to achieve the target, and provisions made to fund related projects. With less than 30 days to the end of 2009, Nigerians do not believe the federal government will meet this target. The attainment of the target has been largely threatened by gas supply shortages, which led to a drop in generation capacity to 2,627MW as at 1st December 2009. Despite the challenges, Government continues to assure Nigerians that it would meet the target.
NOI Polls asked Nigerians if they think the government will achieve its 6,000MW power generation target by the end of the year. Nearly six in ten respondents (57%) said the target is not realisable, while only 26% believe the government would make it.
Responses were similar across the six geo-political zones in the country, with the exception of the North-East where slightly more people believe the government will achieve its target (33%) compared to 25% in both the South-south and South-east who believe the same.
According to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Dr Ransome Owan, what ought to be the normal electricity generating capacity required for the entire country is 7,000 MW, all things being equal. This amount would meet domestic demand and boost industrial growth and development in the country.
Results are based on 1034 telephone interviews with randomly selected phone–owning Nigerians aged 16 years and older, across the six geographical regions of the country. The poll was conducted between November 13 and 19, 2009. With a sample of this size, we can say with 95% confidence that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would have been if the entire population had been surveyed.
This poll is part of the ongoing snap poll exercise conducted by NOI Polls to rapidly assess public sentiments following various social, political or economic events. NOI Polls is a Nigeria- based opinion research organization which Works in technical partnership with Gallup Polls (USA), to conduct periodic opinion polls on various socioeconomic issues in Nigeria.
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