- NBET to Get Second Batch of N701bn Lifeline
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday said the Federal Government would soon release a second batch of the N701bn intervention fund to the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc.
He said the fresh lifeline was meant to boost the power sector value chain.
Osinbajo disclosed this at the inaugural Nigeria Renewable Energy Roundtable organised by the Ministry of Science and Technology in partnership with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and Heinrich Boll Stiftung, Nigeria, at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said the government was committed to further restructuring the power sector.
According to the acting President, the release of the fresh fund will free up the value chain, which has created several problems.
“We hope that this injection (of the fund) will help. We are also looking at several other reforms in the sector, hoping that the market can become self-sustaining, independent and runs on its own and frees up all of the private sector energy that is waiting to come into the market,” he said.
Osinbajo stated that the government would work with the private sector and create the framework for business cases by developing standardised technology packages.
He said, “We also need to explore the opportunities for revolving funds for solar PV/wind projects as well as opportunities for other investment remuneration mechanisms.
“It is also very important that we break the deadlock of the electricity market structures by exploring the options to transform the competition for markets’ approach, continue to embark on a broader restructuring of the electricity sector and strive to achieve a more systematic development of the power market design, especially for renewable energy.
“To do that, we need a framework that brings and keeps all stakeholders together towards ensuring that renewable energy becomes an engine of growth for Nigeria’s economy.”
Osinbajo added that the administration’s plan was to expand the Solar Home System programme to one million households, creating a few more million jobs.
He added that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was interested in lighting up more rural communities like Wuna, an agrarian village in the Gwagalada Local Government Council of the Federal Capital Territory, which until two years ago was not on the national grid and had no other source of power.
He said in collaboration with the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, the government was able to provide a sustainable renewable solar energy solution through end-to-end solution, including a pay-as-you-go system.
Osinbajo added, “I was in Wuna to see it for myself. For the first time in its existence, the village now has solar-powered running water. The school has power and the school hall is now used as a community hall in the evenings. Each home has four points of light.
“Children can now stay up and do some studying at night. Many of Wuna’s women can now process their millet and yams at night. New jobs have been created, solar installers, maintenance, payment systems and so on.
“One guy has lost his business in Wuna. The phone charger. Every household can now charge their phones. But he now charges phones of residents of other villages. We are doing 20,000 more homes in this first phase of this exercise and a pay-as-you-go system to 20,000 households to provide access to lighting and electric power for small devices.”
