Osefan Anegbe, Associate -Energy and Natural Resources has said that State Governments have said that following the newly signed Electricity Act by President Bola Tinubu the State Governments will need investors to help fund power infrastructures in their various states.
Anegbe stated this at the Nairametrics Webinar tagged ‘Embracing Opportunities for a Prosperous Power Sector.’
She noted that the State Governments can issue licenses to electricity companies which would bring in more investments into the sector in the states.
“With this act and with the decentralization the States will not be able to fund this power infrastructure by themselves. They will need investors to bring in money.
“They will need them to bring expertise. I think at the last Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry stakeholders (NEIS) meeting held recently. We had States, already showing that they are creating an investor-friendly environment.
They are not looking to invest in this infrastructure, but they are willing to create a friendly environment for investors to bring in their money and work hand in hand with them to ensure that there are guarantees and there are incentives that would attract businesses into their states.
“I think that these are measures that the private sector can participate in the market and bring in some innovation.
“These are provisions that investors can take advantage of to create efficient markets and get the returns on investment,” she said.
Anegbe noted that the act has introduced several measures that can encourage private sector participation and innovation through licensing and mandating renewable energy development.
“In the renewable energy space, we have several findings already. I recall that recently the shell impact investment, declared that they were given about $11 million to sponsor the development of mini-grids, in Nigeria. I think over 2700 solar energy panels.
But you know, there’s already some funding coming into that space. And I think that investors can tap into that, can tap into bringing in expertise.
Because in all of these markets that would be created, we need experts. We need people who understand the business, we need those who know how to go about these things. So we need investment in that area,” she said.
Anegbe said that in adopting a holistic approach, investors can have a role in modernizing and expanding the Nigerian power infrastructure.
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She added that they can contribute to guaranteeing or rather promoting increased electricity access to Nigerians and efficiency in the markets and invariably sustainable development.
“I remember the KPMG reports that quoted the CBN to have said that annually, Nigeria spends about $14 billion on generators and fuel.
Nigeria doesn’t have a problem paying for power. I mean, nobody in the world will have a problem paying for power, if you can guarantee that you would have that power and as long as you can predict that it will be available.
And this is where investments are needed to ensure that those infrastructures that can assist in the supply and the flow of power are readily available,” she said.
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