Nigeria’s Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Musa Sada, has revealed plans to bolster the country’s electricity generation capacity with coal, a local business daily has reported.

The minister made the disclosure during opening Zuma Coal Mines in Okobo, Kogi State in the Central region of Nigeria.

Sada said that the plan was to make sure that the country did not rely on one source to provide electricity; he said this has  become necessary to prevent disappointment when shortage of gas and water occurs.

Chairman of Zuma Group, Innocent Ezuma said that the company has a reserve of of about 380 million tonnes of coal. Ezuma confirmed the minister’s optimism by declaring that within next 18 months; the company would be able to establish a reserve of two billion tonnes.

“Today, we are experiencing a lot of scarcity in water and gas. Our water levels have drastically reduced,” he said.

Ezuma also opined that in other counter challenges to Nigeria’s energy security, there is need “to introduce coal to the energy mix.”

Epileptic power supply has been a thorn in the flesh of economic activities in Africa’s 2nd largest economy for years, with projects and blueprints  drawn up and abandoned severally.

Earlier this month, the Federal Government of Nigeria took a firm step at resolving the perennial crisis in the power sector when it signed an agreement with Siemens Limited Nigeria to support the power sector revolution through a range of power solutions and financing options.