Nigeria Seeks Closer Ties With Senegal, Others On Power

  

Nigeria Minister of State, Power, Dr. Goddy Jedy Agba, OFR (R) with Mrs. Sophie Gladima, Minister of Energy, Senegal after a meeting in Abuja. 

Nigeria's Minister of State, Power, Dr. Goddy Jedy Agba, OFR, has called for effective collaboration between the country and Senegal as well as other Western African countries on Power.

He made the call in Abuja during a meeting with a delegation from Senegal led by the country's Minister of Energy, Sophie Gladima.

The Minister said that as the world  prepares for COP26, it was important for West African countries nay Africa to meet and discuss and come up with strong positions that will represent the interests of the region and continent. 

He averred that electricity deficit is a common problem in Africa therefore, they need to work closely together to find sustainable solutions to the challenge. 

Agba who identified funding as the major challenge affecting the power sector in Africa, called on the United Nations and World Bank to support the continent to develop its renewable energy sources. 

According to him, "I want to welcome you to Nigeria. We're excited to meet with and your team to discuss and share ideas on how to tackle power challenges in our countries as well as Africa. 

Before the COP26, we need to meet, West Africa Countries need to meet and take a strong position. I know that at the sub-regional level, we are working hard to develop a reliable power grid for the region but we need to collaborate more because we have a lot to learn from each others".

Explaining the efforts of the President Muhammadu Buhari's administration in addressing electricity deficit in the country, Agba noted that "Nigeria is investing heavily in renewable energy. The President has mandated us to deploy solar energy solutions to five million homes before the end of the year. And to also ensure our people pay for what they consume, we're currently providing six million homes with free meters".

On her part, Gladima, Senegal's Energy Minister said that the purpose of her meeting was to see how the bilateral relationship between the two countries especially in Engery and Power sector are strengthened. 

She said that electricity situation in her country is improving as they depend on Wind, Hydro and Renewable energy sources to meet up the electricity needs of the 70 million Senegalese. 

The Minister added that, "thirty percent of our electricity which represents 1,700 Megawatts is generated from renewable energy. We also generate 350 Megawatts from other sources. We've seven soil power plants and one Wind plant. We generate more from hydro because our water level is always stable and enough to help us. 

We are working to have more plants because within the western power holding, there's room for power sharing. We want sufficient energy and are setting up Gas-Fosil Power plant. We'll setup pipelines that will carry Gas to the generation plants. 

So, it's important that the ties within ECOWAS countries, especially Nigeria is strengthened. We need to make the West Africa Power Pool work more efficiently". 

While challenging Nigeria to lead Africa out of its present power problem, she added that, there was need for African countries to begin to produce transmission lines locally to reduce over reliance on products from outside the continent. 

Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Power, Mr. Williams Alo said that "we need to come together, unite and build closer tiers. Colonization has caused us alot of problems but it's time for West Africa and Africa to rise above colonial sentiments to find solutions to our problems" . 

Also speaking, Managing Director of Transmission Company Of Nigeria, (TCN), Enrg. Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz said that Nigeria was already working to bridge the elecltricy gap in the sub-region. 

Abdulaziz who was represented by Engr. Ciroma Joseph, General Manager in TCN added that "we're currently constructing 850MW with 400 transmission lines linking Nigeria, Niger, Burkina-Faso and Benin. We're working to not only meet the elecltricy needs of Nigeria but other neighboring African countries".