The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has charged the federal and subnational governments in Nigeria to create improved regulatory regime as a strategic option of attracting more investments to the nation’s power sector.
Okonjo-Iweala, who gave the charge on Monday in her virtual goodwill message at the inauguration of the Aba Integrated Power Project (IPP), Geometric Power Group, maintained that creating enabling regulatory environment would consolidate the gains of Aba IPP by encouraging more investors to commit financing to energy infrastructure.
Describing the Aba IPP as a good example of the type of private sector infrastructure investment that is desirable for the country, especially around the South-East, the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating minister of the Economy, stressed that the benefit of such a regime would be significant in terms of the multiplier effects on the economy.
She expatiated: “The benefits are truly significant, especially for the thousands of small and medium scale enterprises in Aba, including our well-known industrial market, Ariaria.
“The nation will also benefit from the additional megawatts of power that Aba IPP will send to the national grid instead of being used in Aba.The Aba IPP is totally funded by African capital, something we should all be proud of”, the WTO boss added.
Okonjo-Iweala, who said that the expectation of establishing Aba IPP was to help stimulate other investments in manufacturing in the Aba area by providing reliable electricity, clarified that another advantage of the IPP was that it makes use of the nation’s gas, a clean energy transition fuel that the country has in abundance.
She expatiated: “There is really no reason why this country should have the majority of its households without power or have industries struggling when we have the basic energy transition fuel that other countries are yearning for.
“Let me reiterate how excited I am that this thing has finally come. I wish you all a wonderful and successful event”, the foremost economist added.
