Mahama Promises Nigeria Power

President John Dramani Mahama

In the face of one of the worst energy crises in Ghana's history, President John Dramani Mahama has promised to export power to the country's neighbours.

He reportedly made the promise at the ongoing Africa Global Business and Economic Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The Nigeria Watch website quoted President Mahama as saying that the government of Ghana had agreed to supply thousands of megawatts to her neighbours, particularly Nigeria and Ivory Coast.

The story, published by one of Nigeria's leading business news outlets under the headline:

'Ghana to start exporting power to Nigeria in desperate bid to end electricity woes,' quoted the president as saying that under the plan, Ghana would supply electricity to Nigeria, Ivory Coast and other neighbouring countries that have power deficits.

According to Nigeria Watch, President Mahama had said his government had made huge investments in power generation that would enable Ghana to export the excess electricity.

'We have given priority to electricity generation in our country. We have prioritised energy in such a way that we want to become the hub for power production in West Africa,' he's quoted as saying adding, “We want to generate electricity to the point that excess power can be exported to Nigeria, Ivory Coast and other countries that have power deficit.'

He reportedly added that to achieve that dream, Ghana had secured export import financing from China as well as special funds from Abu Dhabi to commence a series of power generation projects, with a third hydro power dam project already at an advanced stage.

The paper said Nigeria currently generates 4,000MW of electricity a year at best when power stations are in full production, which it said was woefully short of its needs.

On the other hand, Ghana's Volta River Authority (VRA) contributes 75 percent of the total power generation and the country's total installed capacity stands at 2,846.5 megawatts. The government says it is working to bring it to 5,000 MW by 2016.

Ironically, Ghana is even suffering from generational deficits, to the extent that load shedding is in hot pursuit and experts are wondering how it could supply Nigeria, Ivory Coast and others, when Ghanaians continuously sleep in darkness.

BY William Yaw Owusu