Let China Manage Power Sector for 20 Years to Achieve Stable Electricity—Goje Tells FG

A former Governor of Gombe State and serving senator, Danjuma Goje, has suggested that Nigeria should consider handing over the management of its power sector to China for two decades in order to achieve stable electricity supply and national development.

Goje made the proposal during a discussion at the Senate, where he spoke on the country’s persistent electricity challenges and the need for a more radical solution to fix the sector.

According to the senator, Nigeria should be willing to “swallow its pride” and engage a successful foreign country with proven technical capacity to take charge of the nation’s electricity infrastructure and operations for a fixed period.

He specifically mentioned China as a preferred option, citing the country’s lower labour costs and experience in executing large-scale infrastructure projects.

“Best thing to do, in my opinion and in the opinion of some others, is to swallow our pride, call on one of the major successful advanced countries, preferably China, because their cost of labour is low, give them this project of power in Nigeria, run it for 20 years, give us stable power, and move out,” Goje stated.

The senator argued that stable electricity remains critical to Nigeria’s overall economic growth, industrial development, and efficiency across key sectors.

According to him, if the country succeeds in fixing its power supply problem, other areas of national development would function more effectively.

“And within the means of this 20 years we will have stable power which is real development and all other areas will work perfectly and we will get it right,” he added.

Goje further explained that such an arrangement should not be viewed as a debt burden but as a form of structured or concessionary financing where the foreign managers would operate the business, recover their investment, and eventually transfer a stable system back to Nigeria.

“Whatever the cost it takes, it will be worth doing it. It is not debt, it is called conducted finance. They will run the business, make their money and leave us with a stable light,” he concluded.