The Minister of Power, Mr. Abubakar Aliyu, has disclosed that the federal government was willing to partner investors in the power sector to improve electricity supply in the country
This came as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET), Mr. Nnaemeka Ewelukwa, said the government was putting reforms in place to ensure stable power supply in the country.
Aliyu, in a statement signed by the Information Officer in the Press and Public Relations Unit of the Ministry of Power, Mr. Mathew Osumanyi Dan’asabe, made this known while receiving the Ambassador of Turkey to Nigeria, Mr. Hidayet Bayratar, in company of two other delegates in his office in Abuja.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari’s desire towards the power sector was to ensure that the electricity supply industry is owned by both government and the private sectors.
According to him, Nigeria and Turkey’s relationship is a long-standing one which culminated in the signing of an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Turkey and Nigeria in October 2021 for mutual benefits.
Aliyu told the ambassador that various interventions were being put into the power sector of the country.
He described the distribution aspect of the power sector in the country as an area worth investing.
The minister urged Turkey and the rest of the world to partner Nigeria and share experience in the fields of energy, renewable energy and energy efficiency.
In his response, the ambassador said their visit was a follow-up to the MoU signed in 2021.
In related development, the Managing Director of NBET, Ewelukwa, has said that the federal government is putting reforms in place to ensure stable power supply in the country.
Ewelukwa made this known at a capacity-building workshop for members of the Power Correspondents Association of Nigeria (PCAN) and Civil Society Organisations in Lagos.
The workshop, with the theme: ‘Building knowledge and Plugging Skills Gap in Power Sector Reporting’, indicates a worrisome mismatch that government wants to plug.
He said the critical reforms that the government has embarked upon are designed to sustain the financial status of the market, ensure technical capacity to remove the deficit in supply to meet the demand of the country.”
According to him, the federal government has begun the implementation of the transmission expansion plan which works in sync with the government/Siemens Presidential Power Initiative – with phase one – (7,000mw), phase two – (11,000mw) and phase three (25,000mw) supply.
Ewelukwa said “this government is keen to implement these reforms. To be honest with you, we are having sleepless nights to achieve these.”
He said that government plans to keep expanding generation, transmission and distribution capacity to meet the country’s demand.
According to him, the distribution companies are also improving their performances and facilities to ensure improved power supply.
Explaining NBET’s function in the Transition Electricity Based Market, he said the design is to temporary bridge in the electricity market.
He said NBET has a long-term role to drive market competition by ensuring that it is moved from a government-centered market to a private-sector driven electricity market.
“We are enthusiastically looking at the point when we will actually start the innovation process of handing over the Power Purchase Agreements we signed to distribution licencees and eligible customers as the case may be,” he said.
James Sowole in Abeokuta
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