US investors to inject $20bn into Nigeria’s power sector

Strong indications have emerged that investors from the United States may inject $20bn into Nigeria’s power sector in the next two years.

The development was confirmed by the Chief Executive Officer, Kaleidoscope International Business Forum, Mrs. Linda Middleton, in Abuja.

The decision is coming barely five days after the Chairman, Presidential Task Force on Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, had raised the alarm over the zero allocation to the gas-to-power projects in the 2011 budget.

Nnaji had said that the development could affect the Federal Government’s ambition to generate adequate electricity for Nigerians.

The nation’s power generation capacity dropped to 3,313.8 megawatts last month, indicating a reduction of 487MW of electricity from the 3800MW said to have been generated by the end of January.

However, Middleton expressed optimism that the country’s power sector problem would soon be a thing of the past, adding that the decision of the Federal Government to allow the private sector to invest massively in the power sector had made the US investors to be interested in the sector.

To this end, she said that a two-day meeting had been scheduled for March 17 and 18 in Washington, United States.

The meeting, which is expected to be chaired by a former US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Howard Jeter, would also have the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN), in attendance.

Some of the companies that have indicated interest in the power sector who are also expected at the meeting are General Electric, Greengate, Attels and Partners Limited.