Turkish company to provide electricity to 3 million people in Nigeria

Ak-Ay Elektrik, which operates in Nigeria, one of the West African countries, will provide electricity to 3 million Nigerians with the substation projects it carries out in the country. Many parts of the country, which has a shortage of electricity production, often experience cuts. It is estimated that only 60 percent of the people in the country are connected to the electricity grid. The large number of people who can get electricity service for an average of 4 hours a day. The department meets its energy needs through generators. Ak-Ay Electricity Projects Deputy Coordinator Ulaş Aslan, who made evaluations to the AA correspondent about the electricity problem in Nigeria and Ak-Ay Elektrik's investments in the country, said that they started their first project in Nigeria in 2001. Aslan stated that Ak-Ay Elektrik operates in many countries abroad and we have completed more than 40 transformer projects in Nigeria and currently 5 projects are continuing. This includes the Lafiya Project. There are 2 units of 150 megavoltamper and 2 units of 60 megavoltamper transformers in the project. When this project is completed, we will have provided the necessary infrastructure to deliver electricity to the approximately 3 million Nigerians living in Nasarawa state." Stating that Nigeria is a very rich country in terms of oil and natural gas, but it has energy shortages, Aslan said, "The power plants in the country are operating with 5 percent capacity. The main reasons for this include the maintenance deficiencies of the power plants built for electricity generation, the costly nature of natural gas storage, some problems in exports, deficiencies in the operating system and the inability of distribution companies to establish sufficient infrastructure. Therefore, much less electrical energy than is produced is delivered to the people and there is a shortage of electricity in many parts of Nigeria," he said. "One of the most important causes of the shortage is corruption" Electrical engineer Taiwo Adesina also stated that Nigeria is among the countries with the largest oil reserves in the world, "However, there is a shortage of electricity in many regions. Among the most important reasons for this is corruption," he said. Adesina, who argued that the right policies could not be produced by the government regarding the electricity problem, said, "The failure of the official authorities to produce the right projects related to the electricity infrastructure system increases the electricity problem in the country. Sometimes we produce electricity with 8 thousand megawatts of installed power, but the energy produced is wasted because this electricity cannot be distributed correctly." EU investment plan of 33m euros In the country, where about 200 million people are estimated to live, the electricity capacity varies between 4 and 6 thousand megawatts due to failures and technical reasons. Compared to Turkey, which has a total installed capacity of over 80 thousand megawatts in electricity, Nigeria needs significant electricity infrastructure. According to a report by The Spectator Index, Nigeria was the most inadequate country after Yemen among 137 countries in electricity supply last year. Niger Delta Power Holding Company, which is trying to strengthen the electricity infrastructure in the country, aims to strengthen Nigeria's electricity transmission and distribution line by collaborating with Turkish and US-based energy companies. In addition to the work done in this context, the European Union is also planning to invest 33 million euros in the country under the "Nigeria Energy Support Program".