Power in the Commonwealth

Many Commonwealth County's development aims are being held back by
inadequate power supply and infrastructure. We have prioritised
infrastructure development in developing Commonwealth countries as a key
driver of economic growth and living standards, as a part of this we
will hold our first Ministerial Power Summit next week in London.

The summit is designed to bring together key stake holders in the power
sector to discuss in detail the issues facing the industry, and share
best practice and solutions from around the Commonwealth. The Summit
will be addressed by Power Ministers from 12 countries including 2 of
the Commonwealths largest markets, India and Nigeria. The Ministers will
present, to the audience of power experts and financiers, on the
opportunities and challenges in there respective countries. Many are
traveling with delegations including senior officials and
representatives of their regulatory bodies.

Over the next 15 years global energy demand is expected to grow by 49%
with at least 70% of this will come from developing countries, led by
China and India. Government alone will be unable to deliver the
generation capacity required to meet this increase in demand.
Partnership between the private sector and Government are going to be
essential and the sharing of best practice between countries that have
already developed successful models will be required. We hope that next
weeks power summit will be able to help with this.

Power reform in Nigeria

Last month at the request of HE Goodluck Jonathon we organised in collaboration with the Presidential Task Force on Power, Chair by Professor Bart Narji, a Presidential Retreat for power Sector Investors. The President called the retreat to discuss with the international private sector his Roadmap to privatising Nigeria’s power sector. CBC brought 70 high level International power sector investors to the event from over 30 countries, both inside and outside the Commonwealth. In total 400 people attended the event, to hear addresses from the President, Vice President and Senior Ministers.

The Economist, who were in attendance, wrote an interesting article about the retreat that can be read here

The following week, we here honoured to host a lunch for the Vice President, Mohammed Namadi Sambo, during his visit to London. The Vice President addressed a packed room of CBC Members, High Commissioners and business leaders with an interest in Nigeria on the power privatisation plans, during which he described CBC as a ‘true friend of Nigeria’.

CBC has been fully engaged with Nigeria since its return to democracy, in fact we were the first organisation to organise an investor conference in the country. Over the last few years, however, our relationship has shifted in priorities, moving away from more generalised trade and investment promotion – that Nigeria is needing less and less as the world wakes up to the opportunities available in the country - to more niche work, such as the power retreat. This change, I think recognises Nigeria’s move towards middle income status and as one of the drivers of Africa’s economy over the coming years.