Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo has ex­pressed Federal Govern­ment’s determination to collaborate with the African Energy Leaders Forum to end electicity supply chal­lenges in Africa.
According to him, the plan is to be implemented through sub-regional collaborations that would ensure a robust transmission network super­grid, running across every country in Africa.
Prof. Nebo who was speak­ing yesterday when the Under Secretary General and Special Rep of the UN Secretary-Gen­eral, Dr. Yumkella, paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja, stated that the African Energy Lead­ers Group championed by the latter was a welcome devel­opment as it is targeted at the transformation and upliftment of the region.
This he said will bring about cooperation among countries in the region, drawing on their areas of strengths for the col­lective good of the entire con­tinent.
The Minister further stressed the need for the group to give renewable energy a boost to ensure that communi­ties that are far flung from the national grid are adequately powered with electricity so as to promote growth of small scale industries in such Afri­can communities.
He further empathized with the students disqualified by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) over deficiencies in ICT, such a development would not have occurred, had adequate electricity been provided in rural dwellers to expose such students to computers and In­formation technology.
While stressing that “our common destiny is being threatened by lack of access to power,” Nebo added, that with the growing population, the need for reinforcement of forces can never be overem­phasized as it will avert the looming threat in the future without energy.
Earlier, Dr. Yumkella said he had come to intimate the country on the need for the Af­rican Leaders Energy Group, an initiative borne out of the vacuum observed from the Millennium Development Goals, which focused more on social development, without energy – a key factor in the sus­tainability of the programme.
The group, he said, aims at providing universal access to energy by 2030, improve en­ergy efficiency and double the share of renewable energy mix in the global reach.
According to him, Nigeria which is a case study for other African countries to emulate, because of the success of its power sector privatization ex­ercise will head the West Af­rica sub-region of the Group.
He further said that consul­tations were ongoing with fi­nancial conglomerates such as Bank of America, Brazil and other stakeholders to produce some of the instruments that would facilitate the provision of regular power to Africa.

Nigeria, African energy leaders plan sustainable power