Energy Economics and Project Financing Options in Nigeria

Until most recently, Nigeria rebased her GDP and the size of her economy is estimated at NGN 80.3 trillion (USD 510 billion) for 2013 making the country the largest economy in Africa and 26th in the world. Several ethnographic studies however show that economic growth is not truly inclusive. Or rather, there is growth without development since poverty, unemployment and income inequality gap continues to increase. Nigeria's GDP growth has been without power or epileptic power supply. It may then be necessary to wonder how much growth and development would be achieved when power is uninterrupted. The power sector in Nigeria has witnessed several regulatory reforms since year 2000 when the National Council on Privatization (NCP) and the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) setup the Electric Power Sector Implementation Committee (EPIC). The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has also set aside NGN 300 billion (USD 1.9 billion) for power and aviation which is being managed by the Bank of Industry (BOI). Financing power projects however is still a major concern for stakeholders. Financial institutions in Nigeria fear for loan loss provision in this industry while the capital market gets set to implement its financial solution