Federal
Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has said that
the federal government is considering concessioning six hydro dams to private
operators under the build, operate and transfer, BOT initiative.

He
said the plan is part of government’s resolve to raising power generation and
expanding its drive in the renewable energy space. Fashola, who made the
disclosure in a keynote address at the 2018 pre-conference workshop of the
Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) in Lagos, recently,
said that the current component of grid power consists mainly of gas-fired
power which is 85 per cent and hydropower 15 per cent and that there is the
need to produce an energy mix that targets a 30 per cent component of renewable
energy out of the gross energy produced by 2030.

He
said: ‘‘let me be clear and unequivocal by saying upfront that our commitment
as a nation and government to pursue renewable and low carbon energy at low
cost is clear, firm and unshaking.’’ The minister said government recently
approved an integrated energy mix targets under Electricity Vision 30:30:30
which targets generation of 30 GW in 2030, with 30 per cent from renewable
energy sources. The minister said that Africa has trillions standard cubic feet
of natural gas reserves, billions of barrels of crude oil reserves and billions
of tonnes of coal. He also explained that concessioning of the dams was aimed
at providing accessible and stable energy to educational institutions and
markets in the country.

Contextually,
there has been a global drift to exploring renewable sources of energy as an
efficient alternative to fossil fuel based sources and this has culminated in
the Paris Climate Accord of 2015 which has been executed by 195 countries.
Nigeria is also a signatory to this Accord.