|
|
Nigeria: U.S. Re-Affirms Technical Support for Nigeriapower Sector
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Vanguard (Lagos)
13 May 2008
Posted to the web 13 May 2008
Luka Binniyat
Lagos
The United States Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) has re-affirmed its resolve to assist Nigeria with technical know-how in tackling its perennial energy problems.
This commitment was made last week by Mr. Paul Alvaro Marin, the USTDA Regional Director Sub-Saharan Africa, when a delegation led by the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms Sanders, paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of State for Energy, (Petroleum), H.Odein Ajumogobia (SAN) in his office.
Mr. Paul Marin stated that the Nigerian economy offers great opportunities for U.S companies to collaborate and partner with their Nigerian counterparts through the Independent Power Projects (IPPs).
This, according to him, requires a lot of technical work that will identify project opportunities,open the Nigerian market and generate greater electricity for the benefit of the people. To achieve this target, the USTDA Regional Director highlighted the areas of focus for power projects to include gas-fired power projects, generation of electricity through the hydro sector and general IPP projects. Mr. Paul Marin also seized the opportunity of the visit to emphasize that USTDA has a track record of helping countries meet the challenges of providing gas pipelines to feed the power plants that provide electricity.
In his remarks, the Hon. Minister of State for Energy (Petroleum), H. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN), stated that the point of synergy between the segments of the energy sector (i.e. Power, Gas and Petroleum), is predominantly in the infrastructural networking.
The availability of gas, according to him, is critical for power generation and domestic consumption. The Hon. Minister spent further time to inform the visitors about Federal Government policies on gas flaring, Local Content and the on-going restructuring of the oil industry.
|
In his response to the overtures from the USTDA, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy (Power) Dr. Abubakar Aliyu (mni), stated that the Federal Government is receptive to foreign private sector intervention in the nation's power projects with a view to providing uninterrupted and sustainable power supply.
Dr. Abubakar Aliyu disclosed that, to realise this policy statement therefore, the Multi-Year Tariff Order has been put in place to make the power sector competitive and attractive to private sector investment in the area of establishing power plants in the country. He further explained that there was an urgent need for the private sector to invest in the generation and transmission of electricity which stood at less than 3,000 megawatts, a far cry from the current power demand of 20,000 megawatts.
A technical committee of experts comprising four members from the Ministry of Energy was put in place to work with the United States Trade & Development Agency and come up with specific details of intervention in the power sector of the economy.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
