Nigeria to access $4bn from donor agencies to fund electricity development

 Prof. Chinedu Nebo, the Minister of Power, has said the Federal Government would access four  billion dollars from donor agencies to fund power transmission infrastructure in the country this year. Nebo disclosed this while speaking at the public presentation of the 2014 budget on Monday in Abuja. He said that the agencies that had indicated interest to support the country with funds included World Bank, African Development Bank and export and import banks of some countries. The minister said that what was provided in the budget for the power sector, especially provision of transmission infrastructure, was not enough.

He said that the development partners would bring in huge funds to support the programme.

The minister assured that there would be remarkable difference from what was currently being experienced in power supply in the country in the next few years. He said that the ability of the current administration to complete the privatisation process of electricity distribution companies and the generating firms was a great achievement.

Nebo said that the ministry saw the closure of the link from Ajaokuta to Gwagwalada and other areas in 2013, adding that this had had taken care of the transmission infrastructure and instability in the national grid. He said that work was ongoing in the Enugu-Makurdi-Jos project to bring more stability to the grid, saying that the focus of government was to ensure national super grid for the country. The minister attributed the encroachment on the gas pipelines and vandalism of oil and gas pipelines to the set back in the power sector, but said that repairs of the pipelines were ongoing. He assured that there would the substantial improvement in gas supply and stabilisation of the power plants in the country in the next few weeks.