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.
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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.”
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