Nigerian Government to Build Three Coal Power Stations

Nigerian Minister of Power Bart Nnaji said that the government will build three coal-fired power stations in Enugu, Kogi and Gombe states, each with a 3,000 megawatt capacity, to diversify the nation’s electricity sources.

Nnaji unveiled the plan at a press conference organized by the Federal Ministry of Information in the capital Abuja, telling journalists, "Not only does Nigeria have huge coal deposits in Enugu, Kogi, Gombe and Benue states but we have the world's cleanest type of coal."

The Government will underwrite about 25 percent of the plants’ construction costs, with state governments and private sector companies providing the additional capital. The project completion date for the three facilities is 2015, The Daily Trust newspaper reported.

When queried if the Ministry of Power intended to rebuild the 35 megawatt Oji River coal-powered generating station in Enugu State, which was destroyed during the 1967-1970 Nigerian civil war, Nnaji replied that the station was now obsolete and its meager electrical output "might have been appropriate for an era when many communities did not have electricity and when neither the population nor the economic activity in the country was as high as it is today."

By. Joao Peixe, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com