By Gift Samuel, The Sight News
ABUJA: Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has disclosed that the issues bedevilling Nigeria’s electrical industry, has a whole lot to do with energy economics rather than technology.
Fashola said this at the opening ceremony of the 11th Nigerian Association for Energy Economics/ International Association for Energy Economics conference, which held in Abuja with the theme, “New Era in Global Energy Landscape: Implications for an Emerging Economy”.
The Minister who was the Guest of Honour at the conference, noted that the conference is important to Power, Works and Housing Ministry, which is responsible for policy with regards to the electrical industry.
Fashola who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Louis Edozien stated that, “the technicalities of the industry are very straight forward, many new technologies are emerging, the price of renewable solar is dropping and the inclusion of information technology into the electrical industry is revolutionalizing metering.
“The technology is not the problem, the reason our electrical industry is not delivering what we all wish it would, has very little to do with technology, it has more to do with the issues you are gathered here to deliberate on-the economics of energy, the politics of energy, the legality of an industry where multiple private and public companies are interacting through contracts” he said.
He noted that these issues are what will determine how quickly the sort of electrical industry that Nigeria wants can be achieved.
NAEE is an organization for energy professionals with the primary goal of advancing knowledge, understanding and application of economics across all aspects of energy and it’s value chain.
