The persistent depreciation of the naira against the United States dollar is taking a heavy toll on the ability of electricity distribution and generation companies to procure equipment such as transformers, meters and turbines.
Our correspondent gathered that a large chunk of equipment required by the power firms is being imported due to limited local production capacity.
The naira fell to an all-time low of 334.50 to the dollar at the interbank market on Wednesday, a day after the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee hiked interest rates to lure back foreign investors into local assets.
The General Manager, Corporate Communications, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Godwin Idemudia, in an exclusive interview with our correspondent, said, “The truth of the matter is that some of our materials and equipment are not manufactured here. So, we need to go through the banks to get foreign exchange to import these materials. Like power transformer, which is not the regular distribution transformer, you have to import it. Few companies that are working on transformers in this country don’t produce that.
