This paper examined the existing and possible power source portfolio available in Nigeria, and the role of natural gas in Nigeria power generation and sustainability. Nigeria, with population of about 160 million or more, has installed power generating capacity of about 10,000MW with a peak production of about 4,500 MW. Going by the rule of thumb of about 1.0 MW for every one thousands of population for an industrialized nation, Nigeria power generation should be about 160 GW. The present peak production of 4.5 GW is about 2.8 % of what Nigeria needs to become an industrialized nation. The Federal Government has a target of about 40 GW by the year 2020. This respresents about 25 % of the expected 1.0 MW per 1000 population for the country. Thus, the country projection for 2020 is 75 % below what is actually needed to fulfil Industrial Revolution Dream. South Africa with a population of about 53 million has a generating capacity of about 43 GW. This puts South Africa at about 0.8 MW per one thousand populations. Nigeria is endowed with abundant natural gas resources, which can be used in power generation such that other sources (hydro, solar and wind) will be a suplementary. We take a holistic approach to evaluate the energy portfolio that is available in Nigeria and set out how the country can take the advantage of the abundant energy resources to generate electricity for both urban and rural areas. We also evaluate the Government role in energy strategic and policy and her role in encouraging private sector in investing in power generation industry. Thus, the paper projects into the future and attempt to estimate how long the country gas reserves can last under different rate of power consumption.
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