Nigeria calls for $10bn power investment

12 January 2010

Minister of power Dr Lanre Babalola has stated Nigeria will need a "consistent and sustained" investment of $10 billion (£6.2 billion) over the next ten years to achieve its electricity generation target of 35,000MW.

He was quoted by Nigerian publication the Vanguard as saying developing the proper infrastructure to exploit their gas, coal and biomass resources was of primary importance.

Dr Babalola stated that solar and wind energy were also being explored to meet the needs of the countries' off-grid population.

"We must start early; we must start now," the minster urged.

He added that so far, the National Integrated Power Projects were on track to meet their 10,000MW target by 2011.

In related news, the International Atomic Energy Agency has announced its support of Abuja's National Nuclear Power Programme.

Dr Vincent Nkong-Njock said at the official presentation last week that developing "sustainable national infrastructure" should be an absolute priority as it would be of "prime importance" to the success of such a project.

Category: Energy