The West African Power Pool (WAPP) has emphasised the need for more funding from Nigeria and the 15 other member countries to implement the ongoing regional power projects.
The chairman, Executive Board of WAPP, Engr. Sule Abdulaziz, stated this at the third WAPP Member Utilities Directors of Finance meeting in Abuja, Wednesday.
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Abdulaziz, who is also the acting Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said: “Finance we all know, is a critical aspect of running any and every organisation or pool such as the WAPP, we must play our roles diligently even as our project financiers continue to finance our projects.”
The WAPP chair, who was represented by the Executive Director, Transmission Service Provider at TCN, Engr. Victor Adewumi, also said without adequately financing the secretariat, the pool cannot efficiently ensure the proper supervision of ongoing projects such as the North Core project that seeks to build over 800km of transmission line between Nigeria, Niger, Benin, Togo and Burkina Faso.
The Secretary of WAPP, Mr Siengul KI, said this was the third time the biannual finance directors’ meeting is held, with the first held in Senegal and the second in Mali, towards coordinating the financial activities of the pool. The chairman, Finance Committee of WAPP, Ebenezer Tagoe, noted that the meeting would avail member countries the opportunity to brainstorm on how to raise revenue especially from subscriptions.
He said the last meeting was held two years ago in Bamako, Mali, and lauded TCN for hosting the meeting in Abuja.
An honorary member of WAPP and former MD of PHCN, Joseph Makoju, said power generation and supply is business and charged the participants on ensuring their utility firms enlightened consumers on that.
