“Nigeria has not financed any major power generating plant in 11 years after government scrapped key risk guarantees that once attracted global investors.”
That’s the Chairman of Geometric Power Group, Prof. Barth Nnaji.
Nnaji stated this Monday in Lagos at the ongoing 19th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Association for Energy Economics (NAEE), under the theme: “Evolution of Future Energy Mix in Africa: The Role of Technology, Economics, and Public Policy.”
Nnaji, a former Minister of Power, said policy inconsistency remains the biggest barrier to electricity growth in the country.
He recalled that during his time in government, he and the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo–Iweala had set up Partial Risk Guarantee Instruments to finance power projects, leading to the successful building of the Azura-Edo Power Plant under that instrument.
He regretted that that partial risk guarantee instrument was discarded when there was a change of government, and that no major power plant has been financed in the last 11 years.
According to him, Nigeria holds over 210 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, but not harvesting these reserves for the development of the country.
