World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim
The
World Bank said it has held a two day consultation with the Federal
Government to fast track a $1 billion funding to support the Power
Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP).
The programme provides strategies to reset the electricity market and make it more efficient by 2020.
It said the first meeting held in Abuja
in December 2016 with the other in Washington during the 2017 World Bank
and IMF Spring Meetings recently.
A statement by the Bank’s
spokesperson in Nigeria, Olufunke Olufon said the Market Reset is to be
led by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Agency (NERC) as it needs to
have sufficient resources with which to discharge its independent
mandate.
“The World Bank will continue the
preparation of the proposed US$ 1 billion Performance Based Loan (PBL)
to support the Programme. The Federal Government and the World Bank
Group agreed on the next necessary steps to present the PBL to the World
Bank’s Board of Executive Directors for their consideration,” the
statement noted.
In his remarks, Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo said, “We believe that the PSRP is the clearest pathway to
reform the power sector and its success is contingent on a strict
adherence to performance and Programme implementation monitoring which I
will continue to give a priority from my office.”
The Minister of Power, Works and
Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola in the statement said, “The Federal
Government is committed to addressing the challenges in the power sector
as part of its efforts towards achieving economic recovery and
accelerating growth.”
The bank’s Senior Director for
Energy and Extractive Industries, Mr Riccardo Puliti said the
discussions show strong government’s commitment towards steps that will
ensure presenting the loan request to bank’s director for approval.
0 comments:
Post a Comment