By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The acting Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, Sule Abdulaziz, on Wednesday, has disclosed four West African countries to buy Nigeria’s idle electricity.
Abdulaziz while disclosing this at the WAPP meeting on the Northcore project in Abuja, mentioned that the four countries are Niger, Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso.
Abdulaziz, who is also the chairman of the Executive Board of the West African Power Pool, explained that the four countries were collaborating to make the power purchase from Nigeria through the Northcore Power Transmission Line currently being built.
He said, “The power we will be selling is the power that is not needed in Nigeria.
“The electricity generators that are going to supply power to this transmission line are going to generate that power specifically for this project. So, it is unutilised power.
“In addition, there are some communities that are under the line route, about 611 of them, which will be getting power so that there won’t be just a transmission line passing without impact.
“Nigeria has the greatest advantage among these countries because the electricity is going to be exported from Nigerian Gencos (generation companies).”
He said Nigeria was expecting new generators to participate in the energy export for the 875km 330KV Northcore transmission line from Nigeria through Niger, Togo, Benin to Burkina Faso.
The WAPP chairman said the project, funded by World Bank, French Development Council and the African Development Bank, had recorded progress, adding that the energy ministers would be addressing security issues for the project at another meeting in Abuja.
The Secretary-General, WAPP, Siengui Appolinaire-Ki, said the cost of the project was about $570m, adding that part of the investment in each country would be funded by that particular nation.
He said countries in the partnership, including Nigeria, were also being supported by donors, adding that he donor agencies had said they needed a Power Purchase Agreement between the buying and the selling countries to be executed before releasing the fund.