Nigeria and the United States of America have embarked on discussions towards improving access to a reliable and affordable power supply in Nigeria.
The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Richard Mills expressed the US’ government support to the Nigerian government in its commitment towards improving access to regular power supply to businesses and households in the country, during a meeting with the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu in Abuja.
A statement by Bolaji Tunji
Special Adviser, Strategic Communication and Media Relations to the Minister on Tuesday, recalled that an American company, Sun Africa LLC has been in discussion with the FG in the provision of power infrastructure to Nigeria.
Mr. Mills said his visit to the Power ministry was to discuss with the Minister on “shared commitment to improving access to reliable and affordable power supply. You have the support of the US government”.
The Ambassador also invited the Minister to an Energy summit scheduled to hold from 11 – 12 September, 2024 in Washington.
According to him, the summit will make the Electricity Sector a major focus adding that the msummit would comprise working groups engaged in /strategic energy dialogue.
In his remarks, Chief Adelabu stated that the ministry was geared towards adding value to local industries by providing them with adequate power to enable them function better.
The Minister noted that though Nigeria /has the population and /the market which should be a strength to the nation, the reverse has been the case simply because Nigeria still imports about 80 percent of what it consumes and, “ this has left the country with a lot of burden since the country has limited source of foreign exchange to fund the import dependence”.
He stated that his ministry has prioritized its programmes into five key areas which are; Legislative support to ndecentralize the power sector; Policy Support to design a National Integrated Electricity Policy and Strategic Implementation Plan that would be the manual for sectorial policies; appropriate tariff, to migrate the market and also upgrade the infrastructures; infrastructure provision that would be achieved through partnership with foreign investors and an Energy transition plan targetted towards achieving net zero emission.
