The Agence Francaise Development (AFD) has earmarked N27.54 billion (about $170m) as loan sum for the transmission aspect of the country’s electricity industry.
The Chief of Projects, Division of Education of the French agency, Mr Betrand Facini, said this at the weekend when the agency paid a working visit to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in Abuja.
Facini, who was accompanied on the visit by the agency’s Senior Programme Officer, Mr. Adesoji Ademola, also expressed the organisation’s readiness to support other strategic investments in the sector, noting that this underscored the reason the meeting was at its own instance.
Facini said that AFD was particularly concerned about the sustainability of the sector hence its determination to look at the risk of developing the market alongside the present reforms, so as to guide its intervention.
He said that energy efficiency stood out as one of its key determinant programmes, hence, the imperativeness to engage with the commission to work out human capacity development and vocational training that march international best practices.
‘’We have come to assess prospective mission in the education system because we regard skill development as a critical need,’’ he said.
Responding on behalf of the commission, its Vice Chairman, Mr Muhammed Lawal Bello, said the commission deeply appreciated the expert support of the AFD, stressing that its visit was timely.
He said: “The commission was already working with the National Board for Technical Education as well as other vocational training institutions on capacity building for the power sector. The coming of the AFD will, therefore, provide an added fillip, especially in line with global standards.”