Electricity: FG Exploits 2.7 bn Coal Deposit

In a bid to enhance electricity supply in the country, the Federal Government has concluded arrangements to exploit the nation’s 2.7 billion metric tones of coal deposit to generate about 5,000 megawatts of electricity before the end of the year.
The Federal Government says it would woo Chinese firms with the appropriate technology knowhow for a joint exploitation of coal as a step to increasing national electricity output.
Diezani Alison-Madueke, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, who met with a delegation of Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in Abuja, recently, said government had identified eleven strategic coal clusters that could provide a sizable quantity of coal for power projects.
Alison Madueke, noted that the transmission of about 5,000 mega watts of electricity from the natural resource is currently lying fallow.

Electricity transformers donated to communities by the Rivers State Government. Photo: Chris Monyanaga.