The Sun News On-line

President Umaru Yar’Adua on Monday bared his mind on the country’s perennial power shortage, revealing that the Obasanjo administration pumped a whopping $10 billion into the power sector between 2000 and 2007 without much result.

Much as he recognised the need to hasten action on the issue of power supply, he said his government was treading cautiously so as not to repeat the mistake of the immediate past administration.

The President spoke on the issue in Abuja when he received the visiting World Bank Vice President for Africa, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili in his office in the Presidential Villa, saying it would not make sense to pump in more money without a definite and stable project management arrangement.

His administration, he pointed out, was working hard to sort out and pool together the numerous projects in the power sector to achieve a short-term target of at least 6000 megawatts by 2009.

“While we are targeting 6000 megawatts by 2009, the $10 billion invested in the sector between 2000 and 2007 has not translated into power generation, transmission and distribution, so we are exercising caution to ensure that any further funds to the sector would translate into production and delivery of energy to the ordinary Nigerian,” he said.

On his current strategy, President Yar’Adua said he had deliberately decided not to put money for power in the 2008 Appropriation Bill because he was wary of injecting funds that could end up not achieving the targeted result.

“I have told the leadership of the National Assembly that the Federal Government will inject its share of the excess crude account into power and the states have also assured me of what they will put in. Even if all these funds come in today, I will warehouse it until we get a clear direction, hopefully within the next one month, after which I will send a supplementary appropriation bill specifically on power to the National Assembly,” he further stated.

Assuring the World Bank vice president, who also served in the Obasanjo government, that his administration was ready to address all the problems associated with power, President Yar’Adua noted: “But more dollars will not provide light, unless we find a project management solution”.
He said the current Independent Power Plants had two major problems: lack of gas supply to power the plants, and, where gas was available, absence of transmission facilities to evacuate the power and effectively distribute.

He drew attention to the numerous efforts to provide power through the Independent Power Projects, Joint Venture Power Projects and licences issued to Independent Power Providers, adding that his administration was prepared to fund only those projects that had secure sources of gas supply.
On gas, President Yar’Adua said Nigeria had not done much about exploiting its huge gas resources for domestic and industrial use, and agreed with Mrs. Ezekwesili that there was a need for appropriate pricing to attract investors, adding that he had approved a new gas pricing policy and regulatory framework to attract investors to the sector.

The World Bank vice president had, in her speech, told President Yar’Adua that the bank would assist Nigeria’s efforts to raise its power generation, distribution and transmission.