OPENING REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR OF KADUNA STATE ARC MOHAMED NAMADI SAMBO (fnia) AT THE NORTHERN GOVERNORS' FORUM TECHNICAL COMMITTEE SUMMIT ON POWER GENERATION IN THE NORTHERN STATES HELD ON 16^TH JUNE 2008 AT ASAA PYRAMID HOTEL, LAFIA ROAD, KADUNA

Let me start by warmly welcoming the Honourable Minister of State for Power, Leaders of Power Industry, Chief Executives of the newly established agencies for Power Generation in the Northern States, our distinguished Consultants Power Generation companies and other Experts in the power sector, cream of bankers and other stakeholders from the 19 Northern States who have honoured our invitation to this very important Summit. This occasion would not have been more timely especially as the yearnings and aspirations of our people is to see a positive change in the endemic energy problems in our region and the country in general. In order to appreciate the significance of this occasion, it is important to know that all modern economies depend mainly on consistent and uninterrupted power supply.

It therefore stands to reason that any nation aspiring to have a sound industrialized economy must have a reliable power base to propel its economic activities because there is a strong correlation between power generation and the size of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is not difficult to observe that all the leading power producers are the largest economies in the world today. In these countries, it is unusual for any power failure to occur unless for natural catastrophes as exemplified by earthquakes, tornadoes, flood, etc.

Distinguished Guests, it will obviously not be an easy task to catch up with these leading economies by the year 2020 that is within a period of 12 years. Records indicate that the position of a country in the world economic ranking is closely related to its per capita generation of electricity supply. For instance, in 2007, the United States of America had per capita power generation of 3.2kw, South Africa 1.9kw while Nigeria, which is a country outside the first 80 countries could only generate 0.05kw. This means for Nigeria to achieve its power dream, the economy and infrastructure, particularly electricity power supply, must attain a minimum growth rate of 13% per annum because power or energy is the most important variable for measuring economic performance and development.

Some of the major problems of Nigeria's energy include amongst others, inefficient energy utilization, unreliable energy supply system, inadequate energy financing and technological capability in the sector and weak institutional framework and planning

This gloomy picture of energy problems is replicated in all the Northern States and the country in general. It is also noteworthy that over 70% of the petroleum products demand of Nigeria is for transport sector with about 20% for industrial sector.

The catalyst for this all-important Summit culminated from a concept as presented by the Kaduna State Government on the basis of the problems of the closure of industries and the degeneration of the Northern States economy, which necessitated finding solutions to the multiplicity of the problems plaguing the States.

It is therefore obvious that both the States and the Local Governments must find avenues of generating power supply to complement the efforts of the Federal Government, if we are to arrest the persistent shortage in power supply that has been militating against the development of the Northern States and the country in general.

To actualize this objective, the first step was to provide a legal and regulatory framework of bringing such dream to fruition.

In this regard, an Agency for Power Generation was created in Kaduna State. The Agency is the "Special Vehicle" established to be responsible for developing the necessary avenues for improving power generation capacity in the State. This concept was brought to the Northern Governors' Forum and it was unanimously adopted and therefore agreed that all the participating 19 Northern States were to adopt a collective approach towards arresting the persistent power problem in the Northern States as our contribution towards the achievement of our noble developmental objectives.

The suggested avenues to be employed were identified as Immediate, Medium and Long Term solutions, taking into cognizance all the available avenues for power generation such as:

1.                Fuel generating power plants as immediate solution;

2.               Small/medium hydro schemes for the medium solution;

3.               While construction of gas power plants, large hydro-power schemes, coal power generating plants and nuclear power as the long term solutions.

Furthermore, the exploration of the hydro carbons in the Northern States was propounded.

Therefore, our tasks here today and tomorrow is to deliberate and come up with guidelines and solutions on how the States and Local Governments as well as all other stakeholders can sit, deliberate and come up with solutions towards contributing our own quota in solving the power problems in the Northern States.

I must seize this opportunity to acknowledge  Mr. President's efforts towards finding a permanent and lasting solution to our unfortunate energy situation which is highly commendable one of which is through a Nuclear Agreement signed recently with France.

I will also express our collective support to the Federal Government utilization of about US$5Billion from the Excess Crude Account for Implementation of Mr. President's Strategic Plan for a permanent solution to our power generation capacity.

Mention must also be made of the efforts of the Nigerian Energy Commission and other institutions in continuing research towards finding solutions to our energy situation. This includes Renewable Energy efforts directed towards other sources of power like solar, wind and water, which are renewable sources of energy.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, in order not to pre-empt what our formidable team of experts would soon reveal to us. I will stop here so that we attentively listen to their voices, which will enrich our faculties as well as proffer solutions to our energy problems.

With these few remarks, I have the singular honour and privilege to declare this Summit open

Thank you for listening and God bless.

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