THE Federal Government has pledged commitment to the development of infrastructure, in the power sector, to improve the power situation in the country.

Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing Mr Suleiman Hassan said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Cotonou, Benin republic, on the sidelines of the launch of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Market (REM).

He said that toward realising the objective, government had commenced work with relevant stakeholders to ensure professionalism and efficient service delivery in the power sector of the country.

On the coming on stream of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Market, he expressed optimism that the project would help regional economic integration.

He said that Nigeria, as a major player in the regional electricity market, would further boost its infrastructure and revenue through the sale of electricity to ECOWAS member states.

“It will interest you to know that Nigeria sells power to some brother countries in the region.

“So, this meeting and launch of the market are about the integration of not only the marketing, but also the standardisation of generation, transmission and distribution of energy across the sub-region,” he said.

NAN reports that the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Market was officially inaugurated on Friday in Cotonou, Benin to address power challenge and fast-track efficiency cross-border electricity trade among member states.

The REM is planned in three phases with the first phase being transitional for two years while the second phase will kick-start in 2020 with a competitive market.

The third phase is a long term vision depending, on the availability of adequate regional transmission capacity and enough generation reserve in member States. (NAN)

– Jun. 30, 2018 @ 15:05 GMT |