The fourth WorldStage National Electricity Power Conference 2014 is set to look critically into the challenges of post-privatization in power sector, bearing in mind the huge N750 Billion some banks in Nigeria have invested in the sector.
This is coming against the background that as much as about 30 million households in Nigeria are still without access to electricity at the dawn of a new era in Nigeria’s liberalized electricity power sector. According to the President/Chief Executive Officer of the World Stage Limited, Segun Adeleye, organizer of the conference, in a statement today, the conference, will hold at the Lagoon Restaurant, Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, between September 25 and 26. It will bring the policy makers and the private sector together to review the new development in electricity power sector, address new challenges, deliberate on critical issues and chart the way forward for the realization of privatization objectives.
Adeleye said that the conference will attract participants from the Presidency, Ministry Power, Ministry of Finance, NERC, National Assembly, BPE, GENCOs, DISCOs, NIPP, IPPs, State Governments with IPPs, Oil and Gas Firms, Banks, Insurance Firms, Local and Foreign Investors, Media and Other Relevant Stakeholders.
He said that the conference will feature presentations from top government officials, industry experts and panel discussions on, Challenges of Electricity Generation Post Privatization; Transmission and Distribution Challenges; Alternative Energy Sources/ Energy Conservation; and State Governments’ Promoted IPPs.
“The challenges that surfaced with the new dispensation are numerous but not un-surmountable.”
He listed the challenges to include the rising activities of vandals who burst gas pipelines and other power transmission equipment; high level of power theft and by–passing metering; gas supply limitation; revenue collection; transmission wheeling capacity; funding model for transmission; expected declaration of Transition Electricity Market; lack of accurate data on power demand of the entire country; non-alignment of the entire value chain of power generation, transmission and distribution; security of investment; right pricing and efficient usage of available electricity; paucity of funding transmission and aging 132KV lines.
“As Nigerian banks invested about N750 billion in the power sector since its privatization, it’s imperative that the security of this huge exposure rests squarely on every efforts to ensure the success of the privatization process,” he said.

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The Presidency has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to set aside a N50 billion mechanization intervention support fund towards speeding up the full establishment of the 1,200 private sector driven Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprises (AEHE) in all the states of the Federation.
Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo gave this directive while commissioning and flagging off the 100,000 metric tons grains Silos at Sheda in the Federal Capital Territory and the Agricultural Equipment Hiring Centers in Nigeria.
The Vice President stressed the necessity for Nigeria to expand food storage capacity and reduce post-harvest losses.
“The development of strategic grains reserve is central to our policy of stabilizing food prices for consumers and assuring guaranteed minimum prices and market access for farmers.
“That is why I launched the Agricultural Transformation Agenda in 2011, with the goal of producing an additional 20 million metric tons of food by 2015.”
Vice President Namadi Sambo said that current records indicate that 21 million metric tons were produced by Nigerian farmers, surpassing this target and achieving increased food production in the past three years.
According to him, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has completed a total of six silos with a capacity of 250,000 metric tons since November 2013 with a further 625,000 metric tons silos to be completed by December 2014, making a total of 875,000 metric tons silos capacity, completed within two years.
The Vice President expressed satisfaction that the Agricultural Transformation Agenda is achieving great strides in government’s efforts to turn Nigeria into a self sufficient country.
“Our Growth Enhancement Scheme and e-wallet system for reaching farmers with fertilizers and improved seeds through the mobile phones, have reached 14 million farmers by 2014.”
He said that Nigeria is the first in Africa to develop the e-wallet system, now being replicated in several African countries.
“With the Agricultural Enterprise Hiring Enterprises (AEHEs) being launched today, the agricultural mechanization program will be driven through a public private partnership, involving private sector manufacturers of tractors and agricultural machinery, service provider operators, financial institutions and government.”
He commended the Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina, the Minister of State, Asabe Ahmed and their team in the ministry for the impressive progress achieved under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda.”
Earlier, the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Adesina said that private sector investments in agriculture are expanding, adding that small-holder farmers are witnessing a new dawn in the country. “Our food import bill has declined from N 1.1 trillion ($ 6.9 billion) in 2009 to N 684.7 billion ($4.35 billion) by December 2013 and continues to decline in 2014.”
The minister said that despite the gains, certain challenges remain, one of which he said is the low level of mechanization of the agriculture sector. “Farmers still toil with rudimentary implements; the high cost of land clearing is a major disincentive for the expansion of cultivated area; while the high cost of mechanization, from ploughing to harvesting, pose great challenges to farmers across the country.”

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