By NICHOLAS OBISIKE and IJENDU IHEAKA

Director General, World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has called on various governments in Nigeria to create proper regulatory environments to ensure success of investment in the power sector.

Okonjo-Iweala made the call on Monday in her goodwill message, sent virtually, at the inauguration of the Aba Integrated Power Project (IPP), Geometric Power Group.

She explained that creating proper regulatory environments were needed to enable the country’s energetic private sector follow the Aba IPP example and invest more in energy infrastructure.

According to her, the Aba IPP is a great example of the type of private sector infrastructure investment we want to see in Nigeria, especially around the South East.

“The benefits are truly significant especially for the thousands of small and medium scale enterprises in Aba, including our well-known industrial market, Ariaria.

“The nation will also benefit from the additional megawatts of power that Aba IPP will send to the national grid instead of being used in Aba.

“The Aba IPP is totally funded by African capital, something we should all be proud of.”

Okonjo-Iweala also said that the expectation of establishing Aba IPP was to help stimulate other investments in manufacturing in the Aba area through providing reliable electricity.

She added that another advantage of the IPP was that it makes use of the nation’s gas, a clean energy transition fuel that Nigeria is so fortunate to have in abundance.

“There is really no reason why this country should have the majority of its households without power or have industries struggling when we have the basic energy transition fuel that other countries are yearning for.

“Let me reiterate how excited I am that this thing has finally come. I wish you all a wonderful and successful event,” she said. (NAN)

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