FG set to declare state of emergency in power sector

Gbola Subair, Abuja - 18.01.2008

The much-awaited state of emergency would soon be declared in the power sector. President Umaru Yar’Adua said this on Thursday in Abuja in a keynote address at the second International Micro Finance Conference organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The President, represented by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, said the Federal Government was working on the details of the declaration.

Yar’Adua, who said the development of the power sector was crucial to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the administration’s seven-point agenda, disclosed that the government was making efforts to see that infrastructural problem in the country was addressed.

To solve the problem, he said the country would require between $8 billion and $10 billion annually and for a period of six months. This, according to the President, was a huge investment which the government could not handle without the involvement of the private sector

He called on the players in the private sector, both locally and internationally, to rescue the country from infrastructural deficiency President Yar’Adua said the government, on its part, would ensure that the right environment was provided to encourage private investors.