Nigerian Govt. Earmarks N701bn for Electricity

The Federal Government says it is committed to providing N701 billion as guaranty to electricity to ensure market liquidity in the country’s power sector.

Alhaji Mustapha Baba-Shehuri, the Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, disclosed this on Monday in Keffi, Nasarawa State.

Baba-Shehuri spoke on “Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission in Nigeria’’ at the 58th annual conference of the Association of Nigerian Geographers (ANG).

The theme of the conference is: “Geography, Nation-Building and Environmental Change’’.

The minister identified lack of political will, policy direction in the past, current fluctuation, poor management and inadequate power supply, among others, as some of the challenges facing the power sector.

Baba-Shehuri said that the present government was committed to addressing the problem of power sector so as to improve electricity supply for the benefit of Nigerians and the overall development of the country.

“We are all aware that the importance of power supply to the socio-economic development of the country cannot be over-emphasised as the federal government is doing its best in addressing the challenges facing the sector.

“The federal government is making serious commitment in ensuring that the problem of vandalism of infrastructure is completely addressed for the overall development of the country.

“His Excellency, the Vice President was recently in the Niger Delta region as part of efforts to address the problem of gas/pipeline vandalisation as its affect the power generation in the country.

“As a result of the government efforts, we could notice sufficient and significant power improvement with power generation hovering around 4,000MW and above compared to what is obtained as 2,000MW power generation a month ago,” he said.

The Minister of Water Resources and Rural Development, Mr Suleiman Adamu, urged the association to continue to provide solutions to the nation’s environmental problems.

On his part, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Usani Usani Uguru, who presented a paper titled “Appreciating Change in the context of Globalisation: Geographic Paradigm”, said that President Muhammadu Buhari came to rescue Nigeria from decaying.

Also speaking, the Minister of State for Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Jibrin, who presented a paper on “Environmental Issues in Nigeria: the Change Agenda’’, said that the federal government was genuinely committed to addressing environmental challenges for the benefit of the people.

Earlier, in a welcome address, the National President of the association, Prof. Kayode Oyesiku, said that one of the key goals of geography was to help citizens realise their responsibilities for the future of the plant earth.

He said that the association would continue to embark on research in order to proffer solutions to the nation’s environmental challenges.

NAN