Minister of Power Lanre Balalola at the weekend called for the setting up of a technical management team for the N500billion power fund set aside by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to boost development of the nation’s power sector.

“To ensure effective utilisation of the facility and development of the power sector, the CBN should consider the establishment of a fund for the sector that provides credit support for independent power projects (IPPs); a more central role by CBN in the provision of guarantees and securitistion arrangement; assistance with hedging of foreign exchange rates,” he said.

He said this team should comprise representatives from the ministry and the CBN, to ensure that a holistic approach is adopted in the effective utilisation of the fund, taking into cognisance the challenges of power transmission and distribution as well as fuel supply and other technical variables to avoid the problem of abandoned projects.

The CBN last week announced plans to provide N500billion facility for investment in debentures issued by the Bank of Industry (BOI) for investments in emergency power projects, dedicated to industrial clusters in various parts of the country.

Read all about it: http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Money/Business/5537016-147/story.csp

The United States government has said it will assist Nigeria to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity by 2011.
The US Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms Robin Sanders, said this in Abuja on Tuesday during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the US government and the Independent Power Providers Association of Nigeria.
She said, “I am pleased that the US government is collaborating with the government of Nigeria and IPPAN to implement one of its top development priorities by increasing electricity generation to 10,000 megawatts by 2011.
“We are honoured to help Nigeria find a way to generate its electricity requirements through the private sector.‘‘
Sanders noted that the partnership would also help in reducing gas flaring, increase the use of renewable energy and improving clean energy practices.
The envoy, who also inaugurated the Nigeria Energy and Climate Change project, said that the project was part of the US government‘s efforts to promote the generation of clean power.
Sanders said that the NECC aimed at reducing gas flaring, generating clean power, while helping to mitigate the effects of climate change in the country.
She also said that the NECC would also promote commercially viable energy projects in Nigeria.
Earlier, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, had said that the current level of power generation in Nigeria was between 2,000 and 4,000 MW per day.

Read the rest in The Punch

Electricity supply in these states has remained poor, despite investing huge resources in Independent Power Projects (IPP) in their domains.

The Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, who spoke with NEXT in Abuja on Friday, urged the Federal Government to loosen its grip on the power sector by deregulating generation, transmission and distribution, to allow for more investments.

License to transmit and distribute power

“The state governments, like other investors, are given license to generate electricity, while the power to transmit and distribute to the consumers still resides with the Federal Government. Unless transmission and distribution responsibilities are deregulated for other investors to come in, the poor electricity supply situation in the country would persist.

“It is a very sad that the Akwa Ibom State Government has constructed and commissioned a 191-mega watt (MW) Independent Power Plant (IPP), yet the people cannot enjoy the full benefits of the investment, because distribution is not in the hands of the state government. The Federal Government should issue electricity distribution licenses to states that are capable of doing so,” the governor said.

In this regard, Mr. Akpabio said the four states approached the Federal Government for an approval to incorporate a joint venture company for electricity distribution in the region, adding that the Minister of Power, Lanre Babalola, has already assured them of support for the project by presenting a memorandum to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval for an operating license.

Read the rest of this article in 234Next

He said this when Christopher Anyanwu, the Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), visited him in Abuja.

Urging closer collaboration between the apex bank and the BPE in the implementation of reforms in the various sectors of the economy, Mr. Sanusi observed that not much has been achieved in terms of improved generation, distribution and supply of electricity in the country, in spite of the huge funds invested in the sector by the government over the years.

He underscored the strategic importance of a stable power sector and the role of the Bureau, saying, “If you (BPE) are able to fix the problem of power supply in the country, you would have endeared yourself to Nigerians, because power drives the economy. And one cannot have economic growth in the country when investments in the sector are in the hands of government or an opportunistic few.” He gave the assurance that the CBN is not only willing to offer whatever assistance required to see to the achievement of this national objective, it will also support financial institutions that are willing to finance the power sector, adding that banks are not encouraged to grant loans to investors in the sector in the past as a result of the non-involvement of players from the private investment.

He charged the Bureau to take full responsibility for its actions, pointing out that its failure to fix power in the country is impacting negatively on the organisation and indeed, the nation’s economy.

Read the rest of this article on 234Next

Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan said in Abuja On Sunday, that government’s dream to actualize 6,000 megawatts of electricity had not gone down the drain. He challenged relevant institutions to wake up and ensure the dream was met.

To this end, Dr. Jonathan said government had set a daily target of one billion cubic feet of gas supply for the ministry of petroleum resources, so that complaints of gas shortage should not keep cropping up.

A reliable top presidency source, who confided in reporters said, the acting president had tasked the ministry to ensure that the management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), Shell, Chevron and other major gas producers in the country are compelled to provide the required quantity of dry gas. This is geared towards meeting the target of 6,000 megawatts of electricity for the country.

According to the source, “The Acting President is very unhappy with the ministry for its failure to generate gas to power the government’s 6,000 megawatts of electricity. He has directed that all the gas producers in the country must provide the one billion daily gas target to the power plants.”

Jonathan was visibly angry during last week’s meeting of the Presidential Steering Council on National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), when he directed the minister of petroleum resources, Dr. Rilwan Lukman, to summon all the gas producers in the country to a meeting to iron out the grey areas in the one billion gas daily supply arrangement.

Read all about it: http://allafrica.com/stories/201002220151.html

Hollywood Lounge,

Millennium Park, Abuja

Sat 20th February 2010,

4 pm

Come and let us brainstorm on the way forward for the power crisis. Your opinion counts, your suggestion could be the joker.

Abuja stand up and be counted!!

See you there!

Alhaji Immamudeen Talba, the Administrator of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), who confirmed the Federal Government’s plan recently, in Minna, Niger State, said that by 2012, electricity consumers would pay N11 per kilowatt of electricity, being the full cost of the commodity, instead of the N6 per kilowatt that is being presently paid.

Talba claimed that in 2009 alone, government spent N177 billion on electricity subsidy, noting that tariff is generally low in the country and that even when consumers begin to pay N11 per kilowatt, the tariff in the country would still be the cheapest in the African continent.

Coming at a time when consumers are still agonizing over the failure of government to declare the emergency in the power sector that it promised or to meet the 6000 megawatts of power generation by the end of December 2009 that it assured Nigerians, Talba’s pronouncement is, indeed, the height of insensitivity to the feelings of the populace.

The fact of the matter is that at the latest check, the nation of about 140 million people was generating a miserable 2,700 megawatts of electricity, resulting in most homes, schools, industries and other business premises being in darkness. Consequent upon this, the number of the unemployed has been on the increase and the crime rate continues to skyrocket.

The cost of doing business has become so high primarily as a result of lack of electricity that some blue-chip companies have decided to shut their factories and relocate to neighbouring countries where the environment is more conducive for manufacturing. This, clearly, has been at a staggering cost to Nigeria.

The NERC, the Ministry of Power and, indeed, the acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, have all publicly admitted government’s failure to achieve set targets in power generation, and what Nigerians were hoping to hear was what concrete plans government was making to speedily solve the nation’s energy crisis, not the annoying claims of billions of naira allegedly spent as subsidy for non-existent electricity, or the even more upsetting news that consumers may, literally, soon have to pay more for darkness.

Read up the rest of this article here: http://www.champion.com.ng/index.php?news=28092

This post was submitted by ayslim.

The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mr. Onno Ruhl, has warned that the country will not meet its vision 20-20-20 target if it continues to run on generators.

Ruhl gave the warning yesterday in a presentation of the world development report on climate change at the opening session of a two-day National Climate Change Post-Copenhagen Summit organised by the World Bank in Abuja.

According to the country director, who presented a paper on the issue of regional climate change: “successive governments in the country knew how to appropriate money to projects but do not know how to put the money appropriated to effective use”.

He said: “In Nigeria you know how to throw money at issues, but you don’t know how to make the money work because there is a whale lot to be done. Nigeria, being a very important country in Africa, must lead the way in the fight against climate change. For the country to achieve a carbon-free economy, Nigeria must lead the way in the campaign against climate change. But it is very unlikely that this would happen if the country continues to operate on generators. I must tell you, if Nigeria continues to run on generators, the country would not achieve Vision 20-20-20 target on environment”.

Also speaking on energy equation, Ruhl revealed that about $200 million clean technology fund of the World Bank was yet to be accessed by Nigeria; adding that this was necessary if the country must attain carbon-free economy.

“We are looking on a way for Nigeria to spend the $200 million that was already available from the clean technology fund. We have a major mission which is how we move to the next level and, we must be very proactive in doing that so as to enable the country achieve a carbon-free economy”, he said.

However, Ruhl said that Nigeria, being one of the largest economies and fastest growing countries in Africa, has an ambitious vision which must be tailored towards the achievement of reduction of global greenhouse emission.

Read the rest of this report here The Nation