US, Nigeria Parley On Access To Reliable, Affordable Power

In its continued effort towards providing regular, quality electricity to businesses and households in the country, the Federal Government of Nigeria and the United States of America (USA) have embarked on discussion on 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 recently.

It will be 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”, Mr. Mills emphasized.

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 summit would comprise working groups engaged in strategic energy dialogue.

Speaking earlier, Chief Adelabu stated that the Ministry is 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”.

Speaking further, he stated that the Ministry has prioritized its programmes into five key areas which are; Legislative support to decentralize 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.

Regarding the status of the Sun Africa Power Project, the Minister assured the visiting team that a lot is being done to secure approval for s smooth operational take.