Power
By Anayo Ezugwu
The federal government of Nigeria has been advised to invest more on power. The PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC Nigeria, said the government must invest in on-and-off-grid power solutions to meet the needs of the economy.
This was the view of stakeholders and industry experts at the 8th edition of PwC’s Annual Power and Utilities Roundtable, held in Lagos on Thursday, November 30. The event which is part of PwC’s contribution to the on-going reforms in the Nigerian power sector brings together key stakeholders in the power sector to discuss the current industry dynamics with the aim charting a pathway to recovery.
The theme of this years’ roundtable was “The Pathway to Recovery” and had in attendance stakeholders across the Power value chain in Nigeria, including policy makers, regulators, operators, financiers and consumers. The keynote address was delivered by Olawale Oluwo, commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Lagos State.
The panel session was moderated by Pedro Omontuemhen, partner and power sector leader, PwC Nigeria and had as discussants, Funke Osibudu, MD, Benin Distribution Company, Amechi Aloke, project manager, Nigeria power sector reform programme at the BPE and Femi Akirebiyo, principal investment officer, IFC. Others were Mohammed Usman, MD Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, Dafe Akpeneye, commissioner (legal and compliance), Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission and George Oluwande, CEO Sahara Power Group.
The PwC Point of view on driving the power sector towards stability was delivered by Messrs Ian Aruofor, Partner Deals Advisory and Energy and Power Advisory leader and Moshood Olajide, Partner Tax Advisory and Power Industry Tax leader. Contributions and insights shared at the forum focused on specific solutions to solving the power deficit challenge in Nigeria. Some of the options included increased on-and-off grid generation, renewable energy solutions, embedded generation and enhanced transmission network capabilities.
Stakeholders also discussed structures to enable adequate financing for the multitude of initiatives and projects to help stabilise the power sector. Discussions included effectively monetising power delivery through the power value chain via appropriately sculpted tariffs and reduction of cash leakages at distribution; the elimination of historical accumulated debt deficits and injection of new financing to relieve the liquidity crisis facing the sector.
To ensure the recovery expected in the sector doesn’t fail, it was also the view of stakeholders that an effective recovery management framework is implemented. This would ensure effective aligning, measuring and monitoring of key stakeholders and projects/initiatives.
PwC Nigeria is committed to helping evolve the Nigerian power sector into self-sustainability. Its continued investment in workshops is focused on driving the conversations needed to ensure an era of reliable and sustainable power in the country. This is in line with PwC’s purpose of “building trust in society and solving important problems.” The insights and suggestions from the session which will be produced into a report will be shared with policy makers, operators and other stakeholders.
– Dec. 4, 2017 @ 15:21 GMT
Tags: Amechi Aloke Femi Akirebiyo Funke Osibudu Olawale Oluwo Pedro Omontuemhen PriceWaterhouseCoopers Stakeholders at PwC Annual Roundtable want FG to invest more on Power Sector
