FG Sets Agenda For Power Sector Advisory Group

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As part of effort to ensure effective checks and balances in the nation’s fledging electricity industry, the federal government has inaugurated a power sector Civil Society Organisations (CSO) advisory group.
This is coming as General Electric (GE) is investing $350 million into the sector to ensure the provision of 100 per cent renewable energy to communities that are unconnected to the national grid.
The power CSO advisory group was inaugurated by the minister of power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, in Abuja yesterday. The group is drawn from different CSOs with relevance to the sector.
Nebo told the CSOs that government will constantly engage them on its plans with a view to feel their pause and through them feel the pause of the people and also to get their advice and suggestions as to what government needs to do to benefit Nigerians.
“We are partners. We recognise that policy reform is always contentious and contention when not properly managed will often derail reform policies,” Nebo stated.
He noted that there are examples where policy reforms have failed because a wider coalition was not forged in support of the policies.
“If you have a reform and you don’t get the buy-in from the people that are supposed to benefit and they don’t even understand where you are going, you can’t solve your problems. So good intentions by the government are not enough; we need partners like you to help us present these intentions in language that our people could understand,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nebo, after the signing ceremony with GE global chairman, Jeffrey Immelt, on a $350m investment at the Bank of Industry office, Abuja yesterday, charged interested investors in the sector to take advantage of the facility to develop smaller power plants, using smaller turbines in remote grids to ensure the provision of electricity to all nooks and crannies of the country.