The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said
its N213 billion Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility
(NEMSF) would improve generation, distribution and transmission of power
in the country.
Special Assistant to CBN Governor on
Energy Sector, Mr Yinka Balogun, said this in Abuja on Monday at a round
table on “Releasing Private Sector Capital for Investment in the Power
Sector”.
He said the intervention fund would
ensure that the power sector delivered tangible improvement in power
supply for the benefit of all Nigerians.
“CBN will disburse these funds in
partnership with “deposit money banks’’ to address the shortfalls in
revenue for operators to boost power supply and settle legacy gas debt.
“We believe that once the power sector
issues are fixed, Nigeria will return to the path of sustainability at
other sectors,” he said.
Balogun said that the funds was mainly
for distribution companies and would be monitored to ensure that they
were used to purchase specific equipment such as meters and
transformers.
He said that the apex bank had started
disbursement to power companies that met the conditions of the funds and
urged other interested parties to take part in the intervention fund.
Also, Mr Obinna Ihedioha, the Vice
President, Infrastructure Investment, Nigeria Sovereign Investment
Authority (NSIA), said that NSIA planned to invest in the power sector.
“The power sector is very important and
that is why we are looking at creating a credit investment facility for
investors to boost the sector.
“We want to facilitate infrastructure
development in the country, so we have also contributed 400 million
dollars to the Nigerian infrastructure fund.
“We are looking at allocating those
funds into different sectors and power of course is one of the major
areas we are looking at.
“For gas, as a key fuel source for power
generation in Nigeria, we are looking at finding the right gas deal to
invest in,” he said.
Ihedioha said NSIA was careful about the
investments they were making and since it was investing in the future
generation of Nigeria, it would make investments with manageable and
safe returns.
The Vice President, Debt Solutions, FBN
Capital, Mrs Baruw Abiola, said the major factor investors were looking
at before investing in the power sector was cost reflection of tariffs
and stable regulation.
She said that until the factors were
properly addressed, investors would continue to be skeptical about
putting more money into the sector.
She urged the government to unlock the pension fund which held a lot of huge investment potential for the sector.
NAN
No comments:
Post a Comment