June 8, 2005—One of the major hurdles faced by the private sector in Nigeria has been a commodity many people around the world take for granted – power supply.
In the late 1990s in Nigeria, only just over one third of the country’s population had access to electricity. But even for those lucky enough to have access to power, there was a key problem – the electricity supply was unreliable.
Nigeria’s power system was under pressure with persistent and frequent blackouts the norm. As a result, huge numbers of industrial, commercial and residential establishments ran their own power generators – producing electricity at high cost to themselves and the Nigerian economy.
The World Bank has been helping the Nigerian Government’s program of power sector reform and privatization through a project approved in July, 2001, called the Transmission Development Project.
It was given the go ahead as it supported two main goals of the country strategy for Nigeria – privatization and improved infrastructure. An efficient transmission network, along with a fully function control system were seen as necessary to encourage the private sector to take part in power generation, distribution and supply to customers. The project also targeted investment in an area of power infrastructure, seen as unlikely to attract private sector investment in the near term. But it was a critical part of the power supply system.
During his visit to Nigeria, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz will visit the pilot site of the Nigeria’s National Electric Power Authority’s CREST imitative (Commercial Reorientation of the Electricity Sector Toolkit) program to see the Bank’s work in the power sector.
The CREST initiative – which is supported by Bank financing – aims to achieve efficiency in business processes and improve customer service. The aim is for financial sustainability in the power sector – something vitally needed to attract private investment in power.
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