Oscarline Onwuemenyi
10 February 2012, Sweetcrude, ABUJA – The Power Minister, Prof. Bart Nnaji has said that the power sector would become a veritable brand ambassador for Nigeria in the next three years given the attention the Government is paying to restore sanity to the sector.
Prof. Nnaji stated this in Abuja when the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Ali Rifat Koksal led a high power delegation that comprised captains of Turkish industrial grants on a Courtesy call to the Ministry of Power. Accompanying the delegation also was Nigerian Ambassador to Turkey, Ahmed Mallammadori who himself, was a onetime Minister of State for Power.
The Minister observed that the on-going privatization efforts coupled with investments by government in the sector would ensure a viable electricity supply for Nigerians in the next few years.
According to Nnaji, “The Federal Government has made reasonable investments in improving electricity supply but, importantly, we are creating a robust and efficient private-sector led system, which would ensure that the private sector takes a leading role in the efforts to provide adequate power for our people.
“Our plan is in three years to make the nation’s power sector a truly transformational story, and a brand ambassador for the country.”
The Minister of Power told the delegation that the Ministry has already established ground rules for the sector which he urged the Turkish team to understudy and decide which area, they have comparative advantage and start breaking ground immediately.
He told the visitors that the General Electric of the United States had set the ball rolling by its readiness to construct 10,000MW of electric power plant in Nigeria and advised that any other investors could key into the GE project on the condition that you would use GE components for your project.
“We invite you to identify what you want to do; you can begin a new project of your own or get involved in an ongoing one,” Nnaji enjoined the delegation.
Professor Nnaji added that the present administration would want investors to clearly identify what they intend to do and begin work without delay pointing up that existing templates in the sector make things simpler and easier for prospective investors.
Earlier the Chairman and the CEO of Nata Group of Companies, Mr. Namik Tanik and Mr. Cuneyt Kandenir respectively had told the Minister that Turkey is a world known authority in infrastructure provision, large Mall construction, Wind Power, Petrochemicals, Refineries and Railway construction and that they came because their attention had been drawn to the emerging market in the Nigerian electric power sector.
They drew attention to the impact Turkish technology had made in places in Middle East, Russia and China and promised to do same in Nigeria.
