World Bank applauds Fashola’s power plan, offers to finance

The World Bank and some multilateral agencies in Washington have applauded Babatunde Fashola’s power sector recovery plan, offering financial support.

According to Kemi Adeosun, the head of Nigeria’s delegation to the World Bank, IMF meetings in Washington, the multilateral agencies said the plan is realistic.

In a meeting with the agencies, Fashola was said to have presented the power plan, which was approved by the federal executive council, only about a month, and secured the support of the financial institutions.

“What the power sector recovery plan has done is to look at all the problems really honestly. The multilateral agencies have looked at the plan we have put together and they like it because, as they said it is realistic,” Adeosun said at a press briefing in Washington.

“We have really dimensioned all the issues from GenCos to DisCos to end users to metering, and one thing that everybody is very clear of is that it is a big problem.

“So it is a large problem that will take some time to solve, but the most important thing is that there are milestones of what we are expecting to see.

“The multilateral agencies have pledged their support financially because those investments are tied to certain results. For example, if you look at the issues around the transmission, power is generated, but can't be evacuated because the transmission capacity is not there. So, just investing in the transmission capacity in certain areas will change the power outlook.”

She added that “from the impression I got yesterday from the meeting, they were optimistic that if we actually implement what we’ve planned, and the minister of power works and housing was very emphatic that he is going to drive the implementation”.

“I feel quite optimistic that it is realistic. We are not saying throw away your generator by December, it is a realistic plan, but it is going to take time.

“If we have power, a lot of factories that have closed down can re-open. So, it ties with our Economic and Recovery Growth Plan.”