Electricity: EU, German agency to give FG €24m

The Federal Government on Wednesday said the European Union and a German agency, GIZ, had pledged to provide grants in the sum of €15m and €9m respectively to boost the country's Energy Support Programme.

The government stated that the grants would assist it in achieving the core objective of privatisation of the power sector.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, Mr. Godknows Igali, said this during the Nigerian-German Energy Programme in Abuja on Wednesday.

Igali said the funds would not be utilised to build plants, but could be used to provide pilot schemes and other related projects in at least nine locations spread evenly across the country.

He assured the donors that the grants would be judiciously utilised, adding, 'We need more support and partnership from Germany and the rest of the world, donor agencies, development partners and the EU as we do not have the capacity of solving the problems alone.'

The permanent secretary explained that the government was working hard to boost human capacity in the sector.

According to him, there is a huge gap in all aspect of power, hence, the government in the post-privatised power sector, must stand firmly to close the gap if its objectives must be realised.