Posted by From LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja on
President Umaru Yar'Adua yesterday moved to give practical effect to his administration's pledge to end the country's long-running energy crisis within the shortest possible time with the establishment of an 11-member Presidential Committee for the Accelerated Expansion of Nigeria's Power Infrastructure.
President Umaru Yar'Adua yesterday moved to give practical effect to his administration's pledge to end the country's long-running energy crisis within the shortest possible time with the establishment of an 11-member Presidential Committee for the Accelerated Expansion of Nigeria's Power Infrastructure.
He tasked the committee to deliver within 18 months, the 6,000 additional megawatts generation, transmission and distribution capacity targeted under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), as well as add an extra 11,000 megawatts of power generation capacity by 2011 through diverse sources.
Led by the Minister of State, Energy (Power), Mrs. Fatima Ibrahim, the committee, according to the presidential spokesman, Mr. Segun Adeniyi, will be driven by private sector leadership in line with President Yar'Adua's conviction that the government must forge an effective partnership with the private sector to solve Nigeria's power supply problems.
Membership of the committee includes Mr. Austine Ometoruwa, chief executive officer of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), 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 the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the Group Managing Director of the Wempco Group, Mr. Lewis Tung, Executive Director of Exxon-Mobil, Mr. Cyril Odu, Executive Director of Sahara Energy, Mr. Kola Adesina, Chairman of IBTC Bank, Mr. Atedo Peterside and the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Abubakar Lawal Yar'Adua.
Also in the committee are the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dr. Rowlan Owan, who will serve as its secretary, the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Mr. Tanimu Yakubu and the Special Adviser to the President (Power), Engineer Joseph Makoju.
In undertaking its assignment, the committee is expected to conduct an independent technical, financial and legal audit of infrastructure in Nigeria's power sector and source funding for the completion of ongoing NIPP projects based on terms and conditions mutually-acceptable to the Federal Government and investors.
It will also provide inputs for the design of an appropriate securitization structure to attract credible investors to the power sector as well as 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 and its inputs are expected to be a vital component of the state of emergency to be declared in the power sector.