Nigeria eyes global energy charter for investments

Daily Trust-7 July 2022

Nigeria eyes global energy charter for investments

Nigeria is targeting to be part of the International Energy Charter (IEC), a global community that will enable it to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) to accelerate power sector development.

Speaking at the National Energy Summit (NES) in Abuja on Tuesday, the Director-General, Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), Prof. Eli Jidere Bala, said the community has a common agreement on investments and dispute resolution on country-specific investments which Nigeria could benefit from given the confidence investors have in the charter.

Bala said: “When investors come in they need legal instruments; in case of disputes they can easily settle it. If Nigeria belongs to the international community through the IEC, a community where common rules are, it makes it very easy for people to come in and invest.

“Certainly, we need a lot of investments to ensure that we have enough electricity, more fuel.”

On the theme, ‘Green Economy and Sustainable Energy Development in Nigeria: Investment, Opportunities and Challenges’, Bala said it was apt as the world intensifies a transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy to tame global warming.

Secretary-General of the IEC Secretariat in Brussels, Belgium, Guy Lentz, said Nigeria could drive more investments in energy by becoming a member of the charter’s treaty.

Lentz said: “There is a lot of capacity in Nigeria like wind, solar and biomass. All these energy sources will be developed; and to achieve this, the country needs mostly private investments. To attract private investments, Nigeria needs to have a solid legal framework, which is the energy charter treaty.”

Fuente: Daily Trust