OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The 19th virtual Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari has approved Nigeria’s contribution of $2 million to the 2020 budget of the West African Power Pool, WAPP.
According to the Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, who revealed the specialised pool covers 14 of the 15 countries of the regional economic community, namely Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.
Mamman, who briefed journalists alongside Information and Culture minister, Lai Mohammed; Digital Economy minister, Dr. Isa Pantami; and Transportation minister, Rotimi Amaechi, said participating in the regional market would generate immediate foreign exchange for Nigeria as oil revenue is dwindling.
“The pool is about having synergy within the West African region. The decision has been taken by ECOWAS, it’s for the generation of electricity in the region, so as to have more constant and steady power supply. It’s like the national grid in Nigeria. So we are going to have regional grid. It means, in case there is a failure in one country, another can supplement. The $2 million is a contribution,” he said.
Also commenting, Mohammed said: “The West African power pool is made up of all West African countries because each member state contributes annually to the cost of power transmission across the pool. Because, the consequence is that if there is a problem in one country, it could inadvertently affect the other country.
“This was created in 1999 by authorities of the West African Heads of State. It’s a common pool and every country has its own section and our contribution for this year is $2 million. It’s not as if we are giving $2 million to ECOWAS, we are simply paying our own contribution to the transmission from Nigeria to other West African countries and vice-versa.”
The West African Power Pool, WAPP was created by a decision at the 22nd Summit of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in 1999.
At the 29th Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government held in Niamey, in 2006, the group adopted the Articles of Agreement for WAPP organisation and functions.
