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PRESIDENT RAISES PANEL TO CHECK ENERGY CRISIS

PRESIDENT Umaru Musa Yar'Adua on 19th February, 2008 constituted an 11-member committee to give practical effect to his administration's pledge to end the country's long-running energy crisis within the shortest possible time. He charged the committee to deliver to the country a total additional 6,000 megawatts generation, transmission and distribution capacity within the next 18 months. The committee was also mandated to add to the national grid an extra 11,000 megawatts of power generation capacity by 2011.

This would be done through diverse sources while the 6,000 additional megawatts target would be met through the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP). Tagged Presidential Committee for the Accelerated Expansion of Nigeria's Power Infrastructure, the committee is expected to be private sector, not public sector-led driven in its efforts to meet the targets.

President Yar'Adua stated that the government must forge an effective partnership with the private sector in order to solve the country's power supply problems. The Minister of State, Energy (Power), Mrs. Fatima Balaraba Ibrahim, is the chairperson of the committee and Mr. Austine O. Ometoruwa, the Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), which is a brain behind the move, is member.

The AFC is a private sector-led development finance institution, which is expected to play a central role in the new initiative with its significant investment and technical capacity. Others are Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chairman of the Dangote Group, Mr. Lewis Tung, Group Managing Director of the Wempco Group, Mr. Cyril Odu, Executive Director of Exxon-Mobil, Mr. Kola Adesina, Executive Director of Sahara Energy, Mr. Atedo Peterside, Chairman of IBTC Bank and Mr. Abubakar Lawal Yar'Adua, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Others include Dr. Rowlan Owan, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission who will serve as its Secretary, Mr. Tanimu Yakubu, Chief Economic Adviser to the President and Joseph Makoju, Special Adviser to the President (Power).

In undertaking its assignment, the committee is expected to:

  • Conduct an independent technical, financial and legal audit of infrastructure in Nigeria's power sector
  • Source funding for the completion of ongoing NIPP projects based on terms and conditions mutually-acceptable to the Federal Government and investors
  • Provide inputs for the design of an appropriate securitisation structure to attract credible investors to the power sector
  • Provide inputs for a power purchase agreement template that will ensure a reasonable level of return on investment for investors and affordable tariffs for consumers.
The Committee is expected to submit an interim report to President Yar'Adua within 30 days. Its inputs are expected to be a vital component of the state of emergency to be declared by President Yar'Adua in the power sector.