Nigeria’s electricity problem may have taken another dimension as it has been revealed that an estimated sum of N796.4 billion is spent yearly on fuel to power electric generators in the country.

The programme director, Community Research and Development Centre, Godfrey Ogbemudia, who made the disclosure on Wednesday, said this was due to insufficient power supply in Nigeria.

Nigerians spend the whopping sum in order to generate their own electricity.

Speaking at the official launch of the Nigeria Renewable Energy for All Project in Benin, Ogbemudia explained that the figure is the same as the federal government’s budget of N796.7 billion for the capital expenditure for the 2009 fiscal year for 36 states of the federation.

He bemoaned the fact that in spite of the various government policies to revive the energy sector, many citizens of the country still get as low as four hours of electricity supply per day, paving the way for Nigerians to do with solar energy as an alternative source of power.

Ogbemudia said that CREDC had been playing a major role in the deployment of renewable energy to rural communities since 2006, part of which he said was the installation of stand-alone solar systems for over 550 households in Edo state.

He further explained that the solar project, also known as Nigeria-REAP, was meant to improve access to sustainable and uninterrupted electricity supply using renewable energy in collaboration with Schneider Electric.