SHEHURI SOLICITS SUPPORT FROM DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS

The Minister of State I for Power, Works and Housing, Hon. Mustapha Baba Shehuri has solicited for more support from Development Partners in the areas of technical and financial assistance to help his Ministry fully implement the Power Sector Recovery Plan (PSRP) initiatives.

Shehuri stated this at a meeting between Officials of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing (Power Sector) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), in his office.

The Minister disclosed that the crux of the meeting was to appraise progress made on the implementation of the Power Sector Recovery Plan (PSRP) embarked upon by the Ministry as an integral part of the Nigeria Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (NERG).

Shehuri lamented the challenge being faced by the sector as that of strengthening the Distribution Infrastructure within the electricity value-chain in order to make it perform optimally.

 The Minister revealed that with the support of the Development Partners especially, the African Development Bank (AfDB), generation and transmission capacities in the country has increased to an all-time high of 7,001MW and 6, 800MW respectively. He added that the only area that needs more attention from the Development Partners is that of expansion of distribution network.

The Minister commended the African Development Bank (AfDB), while assuring them of Federal Government’s co-operation on the full implementation of the Power Sector Recovery Plan (PSRP).

Earlier on, the Leader  of the delegation from  the AfDB and Chief Evaluation Officer, Penelope Jackson, said the objectives  of the meeting with the Ministry is to assess the level of achievement so far recorded in the implementation of the Power Sector Recovery Plan (PSRP), which the Bank supports.

In attendance at the Meeting were the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing (Power Sector) Lious Edozien, Directors of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing (Power Sector),Leader of the Implementation Team of the PSRP and representatives of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Rural Electrification Agency (REA), among others.

Ibrahim Haruna

For: Ag. Director, Press