World Bank gives conditions to support power sector development in Nigeria – Official

The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, says it is ready to assist Nigeria to develop its power sector if necessary challenges in the sector are settled.
The IFC Country Manager in Nigeria, Essien Lore, gave the assurance at the 5th Annual Powering Africa Nigeria Conference in Abuja on Thursday.
The conference, organised by Energy net, a United Kingdom-based company, is designed to forge partnership with investors on sustaining energy in Africa and Nigeria.
It is also designed to evolve workable measures of ensuring energy access and energy efficiency in Nigeria’s power sector.
Lore said that the challenge with the nation’s power sector was not just the issue of liquidity, but sectorial issues.
She said in spite of the success recorded so far in the nation’s power sector over the years, there were still some sectorial issues that needed the attention of all stakeholders.
She said the power sector was in a state of emergency, adding that solving it required a sense of urgency, coalition of public and private partners with clear defined actions.
She identified sectorial deficit, inadequate gas supply, sectorial governance, transmission bottlenecks and inadequate generation as major challenges bedeviling the sector.
She, however, said that the World Bank group was ready to support well designed power projects in the country, noting that the group had earmarked $2 million to support the development of power in Nigeria.
Lore said: “As a member of World Bank group, from our perspective, the only thing that is preventing us from supporting more projects is the sector issues.”
She expressed believe that the challenges in the sector would be surmounted.
She said: “We are on the right part and we are envisaging that the power issues we face today will be a thing of the past and the sector issues need to be addressed.”
She said investing in the power sector was an investment that would have ripple effect on the entire sectors, adding that IFC was ready to support investment in the sector.
Lore noted: “We don’t have a problem of liquidity; the issue is to get the sector issues right and once we get them right the needed support will com.”
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Abubakar Magaji, said that buildings were major consumers of electricity generated.
Magaji, represented by Esther Okougha, the Director, Engineering Services in the ministry, said 60 to 70 per cent of the grid generated energy was consumed by buildings.
Magaji said Nigeria had the plan of reaching 10,000 mega watts of electricity generation before 2020.
He said energy efficiency measures represented the cheapest way of improving the state of energy supply in Nigeria.
He said the Federal Government had launched a building energy efficiency guideline for Nigeria builders.
Magaji said the book was designed to guide builders on how to construct houses to ensure energy efficiency.