Minister of Power, Prof Chinedu Nebo says Federal Government had earmarked N752 billion for expansion of power transmission in the next five years and that more innovative approach would be adopted to fund the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) by opening private sector investment window in future.

Some institutions have been established to earn investors’ confidence by further enhancing the environment for doing business in the sector.

He further stated that the government has opened an initial N33 billion soft term credit line to enable the distribution companies to acquire smart meters because metering gap amongst consumers must be bridged to shore up market revenue; while he called on the NCP to come up with clear roles and mandates for stakeholders as well as set targets and strategies toward achieving the power reform objectives.

In addition, Nigeria will receive 30 per cent of the $7bn that the United States earmarked in 2013 to boost energy in Africa, that is, $2.1bn from the Power Africa initiative once the US begins implementation. The US President, Barack Obama, in June 2013 pledged $7bn in South Africa to help to combat frequent power blackouts in sub-Saharan Africa. Funds from the initiative will be distributed over the next five years.

Meanwhile, indications have shown that government is about to offer upstream assets with considerable gas deposits to investors in the power sector in order to attract investment which would boost electricity generation.

The Ministry of Petroleum through the Department of Petroleum Resource (DPR) is considering making available acreages that are of gas which can be developed.

The DPR also plans to auction 31 marginal fields while several oil majors such as Shell, Chevron and Pertrobas had been divesting multiple assets onshore and in the shallow waters of the Niger Delta, which Nigeria could target for power investors.