Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola
Whereas the European Union (EU) has revealed that it has so far committed over €700m for the development of sustainable energy in Nigeria and other ECOWAS countries from 2014 to 2020, energy experts have expressed anxiety on the true impacts of the allocations over the years.
Their anger is rising against the backdrop of poor improvements in the nation’s power sector within the period under review.
While revealing the whooping allocation in Abuja on Monday, the Head of Cooperation, EU delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr Kurt Cornelis, said access to electricity and promotion of sustainable energy solutions were at the core of EU’s cooperation with the region, hence the provision of the grants to ECOWAS countries.
Giving more details at a workshop on policy and regulation for clean energy mini-grids and renewable energy in ECOWAS region in the nation’s capital, he called on policy makers and critical stakeholders to urgently address the energy deficit, using the various energy mix in the region.
He said “We all know that the challenges are considerable; we also know that on-grid solutions alone cannot solve the problems and that the right mix of on grid and off-grid interventions has to be found.
In his submission, Cornelis fingered poor political will to do the needful as the key scare commodity to drive the sector especially in terms of policy formulation and implementation of tailored framework for the industry.
He added that whereas the EU, with partner countries and donor agencies, were committed to promoting renewable energy solutions to expand access to electricity in the region, a stable environment for trade and investment, improved capacities and necessary funding were required for the development of the Nigerian power sector.
