Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo
About
30 million Nigerians, particularly residents of rural communities, have
yet to be connected to the national electricity grid and are living in
blackout, the Federal Government has said.
As a result, the government called for
more private sector financing to improve electricity supply, especially
to the affected rural dwellers.
The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu
Nebo, gave the statistics in Abuja while declaring open the Nigerian
Renewable Energy Private Equity Seminar.
Nebo, who was represented by the
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, Amb. Godknows Igali,
said the seminar was organised to sensitise investors, fund managers,
policy makers and other stakeholders to the need to support the
development of renewable energy in Nigeria.
According to him, the seminar was also
aimed at mobilising stakeholders to initiate an equity fund through
private sector participation to promote sustainable energy and deliver
power to the millions of Nigerians without electricity.
Citing a United Nations Report on access
to power, the minister said, “There is still a wide gap in power
supply. Sadly for us here in Nigeria, we still have about 30 million
people that do not have access to power at all.
“This is the reason the Federal
Government is focusing on renewable energy, particularly off-grid solar
and small hydros that would not need to depend on the national grid.”
Nebo said the government was developing
hydro-electricity. He added that the financing process for the 3050
megawatts Mambilla Hydro Dam would soon be completed and the plant would
be flagged off by the President.
He added, “There are 264 hydro dams,
which have not been fully utilised. So, in this first quarter government
did a study and is fixing the turbines and other components in 12 of
them to increase their generation capacity.”
In her address, the Coordinating
Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, said there was the need to supplement mainstream power
generation through the harnessing of renewable energy.
Okonjo-Iweala was represented by Hajia Lare Shuaibu.
According to her, the Nigerian Bulk
Electricity Trading Company Plc has received proposals and enquiries on
developing the vast renewable energy in Nigeria.
She said, “Giving the national resources
of sunlight, wind and biomass, among others, we need to start thinking
of how they can be harnessed for the power sector.”
The Chief Executive Officer, Henshaw
Capital Partners, the firm that organised the programme in
collaboration with the power ministry, Ms. Barbara James, said business
financing through bank lending and capital market lending at a
percentage of the Gross Domestic Product was still relatively low.
This, she said, was unlike what was obtainable in advanced countries.
Barbara noted that the seminar was to
prepare grounds for the development of private equity and venture
capital, where resources would be pooled to develop sustainable
renewable energy for Nigeria.
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