Kola Adesina, Chairman of Egbin Power Plc. has called on power sector regulatory authorities across Africa to provide the guidance and expertise that is so crucial to enhancing economic growth and development across the continent, Vanguard reports.
Egbin Power Plc is the largest privately owned power generation company in Sub-Saharan Africa and accounts for over 20 percent of power generated in Nigeria. The plant has an installed capacity of 1320MW with ongoing plans by the Adesina led Board to raise the capacity to 5,000MW within the next five years.
Adesina said the regulatory environment in the sector in Africa needs to be tweaked to integrate cross-border collaboration, forward-looking policies, and cooperation between the public and private sectors to meet the huge power demand on the continent. He said an important part of the regulators’ role would be to ensure that customers receive the best possible service.
On the other hand, regulators will eventually need to allow the market find it’s equilibrium in terms of costs and pricing, even though Adesina admits that a free market may not be entirely “practicable” given the various socio-economic dynamics across the continent. He, however, concluded by reiterating the importance of public-private partnerships to the advancement of the sector.
