The Canadian Government has said it supported Nigeria with the building of nine oxygen plants in nine states worth $23 million due to the gaps she experienced during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019.

The Canadian High Commissioner Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Christoff, explained when he visited the newly commissioned ‘Pressure Swing Adsorption Oxygen Plant’ at the Nchia General Hospital in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State on Tuesday.

Recall that the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, had commissioned the Oxygen Plant on August 6, 2024, when it was unveiled by the United Nations Children Fund.

Continuing, Christoff, who is also the Permanent Representative of Canada to ECOWAS, said poverty is central to some of the challenges the Canadian government identified globally which he said worsened during the outbreak of COVID-19.

Speaking about the Oxygen Plant, he said, “This is a tangible example of where governments like the Government of Canada, UNICEF, WHO, the Rivers State Government and of course the healthcare system can come together and bring effective, focused and change to address shortcomings that ultimately if addressed can make a real difference to the general public.

“And I think this medical Oxygen Plant is doing just that. So it is my sincere joy to be here representing Canada and seeing how Canadian tax dollars have made a difference here in Nigeria.”

While acknowledging that the facility was commissioned in early August, Christoff said, “I want to come and see it for myself. And I want to thank those who have facilitated this event today.

“You know poverty hits the world quite hard in ways that remain lingering in terms of the facts, and in the aftermath of all that we recognise, there are ways we need to come together to address shortcomings that were revealed during our nation’s response.

“During Covid, it was identified there were several gaps in the way that as an international community, we were not able to effectively address everything that came our way. One of those gaps of course was the issue of medical oxygen. Canada decided to make a concerted effort to support significant funding through UNICEF to address the shortage of medical oxygen across the globe.

“And so the Government of Canada provided $23 million to support the building of nine facilities across Nigeria including this one and to respond to similar gaps that we have identified during our response. So it is with great pride that I’m here today as Canada’s representative here in Nigeria.”

In her remarks, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Adaeze Oreh, said the PSA Oxygen Plant underscores the ‘remarkable’ collaboration between the state and its international partners.

Dr Oreh, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the State Ministry of Health, Dr Mekeke Igwe, further said the facility stands as a beacon of progress and a vital resource in the state’s quest to provide better medical care and ensure that no patient is deprived of the essential oxygen required for their treatment.

The Commissioner noted, “This oxygen plant fills about 135 cylinders (20-1 litre bottles) in 24 hours and provides 720,000 litres of medical oxygen within the same time frame.

“This capacity ensures that 100 children with severe pneumonia or 50-60 adults battling critical respiratory illnesses can receive round-the-clock oxygen treatment simultaneously.”

She lauded the Canadian government’s commitment to fostering health innovations and its unwavering support towards strengthening healthcare systems in developing regions, she reaffirmed the dedication of the state to maintaining and operating the plant to the highest standards.

“We pledge to ensure that its benefits reach those who need them most and that it serves as a model of excellence in healthcare infrastructure,” she promised.

Speaking, the chief of the field office of UNICEF, Port Harcourt, Dr Anselem Audu, stated that the funding for the establishment of this plant was provided by the Canadian government, the IHS Towers through UNICEF, saying everything has been paid for.

Dr Audu said, “This is a dream come true. I was part of what happened during the COVID here, how we were looking for Oxygen night and day, and Oxygen was nowhere to be found. Today such a thing cannot happen if there is a need for Oxygen.”

He said the envoy’s visit to the facility symbolizes the commitment of the Canadian Government and the strong partnership of its government and UNICEF to ensure the latter provides life-saving medical facilities for children in its zone.

“I want to especially thank the High Commissioner for finding time to come to this facility to see how UNICEF has effectively put the fund given to UNICEF for the good and betterment of the people of Rivers State,” he added.

The federal government on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a Chinese company, Mutual Commitment Company Limited on renewable energy.

This is contained in a statement by the Special Adviser on Strategic Communication and Media Relations, Bolaji Tunji, to the Minister of Power in Abuja.

The MoU was facilitated and signed in Beijing at the African-China Co-operation Summit by the Rural Electrification Agency, an agency of the Ministry of Power.

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu and the Managing Director of REA, Abba Aliyu, were present at the ceremony.

Speaking at the event, Mr Adelabu said that the MoU signing were important and would go down as a memorable day for Nigeria.

He congratulated the REA and the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria for the achievement.

He said, “The MoU will go a long way towards achieving Nigeria’s vision for the renewable energy subsector of the electricity sector value chain. I know Nigeria and China have lots of things in common, one of which is the high population of both countries. And countries with high populations have so much pressure. The first pressure is that of energy access, and the second is job creation. So when you take steps to achieve both, it is a thing of joy.

”I am particularly happy that this is happening during the tenure of President Bola Tinubu, as it is in line with achieving the Renewed Hope Agenda of the administration for the country.’’

The minister reiterated that Mr Tinubu had prioritised the power sector as the driver of other critical sectors of the economy and given support to ensure that he delivered on his electoral promises.

He noted that energy access and expansion were the government’s major priorities because nothing could be achieved without a strong, stable, functional and reliable electricity sector.

He stated, “We have relied so much on centralisation of our power sector for so long that it is not taking us anywhere, as almost 40 per cent of Nigeria’s population lacks access to energy with its attendant consequences. So moving away from centralisation, we have decided to adopt the distributed power model to ensure that every Nigerian has access to energy.

“A lot of our population resides in the rural areas; a lot of our institutions—educational and tertiary health institutions—are isolated, and they are still facing epileptic power supply.’’

Mr Adelabu said that the federal government also found out that the adoption of distributed energy model would expand the energy net for Nigeria’s rural dwellers, the rural businesses, universities and tertiary health institutions.

He said that it was the reason the focus was now on renewable energy, which is believed to be scalable and could exist in isolation of the national grid currently facing pressure.

According to him, as Nigeria continues to expand energy access, the country also wants to achieve a transition to cleaner sources of energy that are sustainable and environment-friendly.

He stated, “Which is why we have both a long-term and medium-term target to achieve net zero carbon emissions by year 2060 and also to enable us to achieve 30 per cent of our energy generation coming from renewable energy by year 2030. So renewable energy is currently a major focus for us in the power sector.’’

He added that the two MoUs would achieve the vision for the renewable energy sub-segment of the power sector.

He noted, “A step like today’s will enable us to move up on our level of electrification. This will consequently lead to growth in our gross domestic product because of the economic activities that will be created. This will also save us foreign exchange expenditure on importation and create jobs for our people if we assemble these things locally.’’

Speaking earlier, the managing director of REA reiterated the importance of the ceremony as it was capable of delivering on the presidential mandate of building local capacity and creating more job opportunities.

Mr Aliyu said that the REA would track the MoUs and ensure the delivery of the commitment within the tenure of the present administration.

”We will also track the economic factor that this initiative will drive, the level of GDP contribution, the employment opportunities provided, and the socio-economic activities that will crystallise,” he said.

Mr Aliyu also said that the MCC was presently engaged in Nigeria with the construction of 12 MW and 3 MW power plants in Maiduguri and Kaduna, respectively.

In the same vein, the vice chairman of MCC, Yan Zhezhu, expressed appreciation for the power minister’s commitment to Nigeria’s energy growth.

”We are not new to Nigeria, having started in Oyo State a long time ago. Presently, we have ongoing projects in Maiduguri and Kaduna, and we appreciate the cooperation we have so far received. Our projects have seen us working with states and the federal government in Nigeria, and we are committed to doing more,” he said.

Heineken Lokpobiri, the minister of petroleum (oil) has assured that efforts were ongoing to ensure that the $5 billion African Energy Bank commences operation by September 2024.

Nigeria had recently emerged the host for the bank which is aimed to facilitate access to funding for energy projects in the continent, thereby catalysing economic growth and enhancing energy security, beating Ghana, Benin, Algeria, South Africa, and Cote D’Ivoire in the race.

Heineken Lokpobiri, the minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), who hosted Omar Farouk Ibrahim, Secretary General of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO), in Abuja on wednesday stated that Nigeria was set to meet the requirements of establishing the bank.

He said, “We want to very emphatically state that Nigeria is committed to meeting our obligations as a host country. We are working day and night to ensure that we meet the September ending deadline. We believe that we will be able to meet the deadline. Even if we do not meet the deadline, the whole of Africa will see that everything is almost in place and the bank can actually start off.

“The issues raised, which are the host country agreement, the headquarters building, and then the balance of the subscription, these three issues are issues that we are working very seriously to fulfil before the end of September so that the bank can actually start off.”

In his remarks, Umar Ibrahim, APPO Secretary General, appealed to the Nigerian government to act in conformity to the promises made that informed the decision to give Nigeria the hosting right. He reiterated that Nigeria won fair and square adding that the country cannot afford to fail those who voted for it.

“Everybody is looking up to Nigeria, ministers of other countries are asking me, when are you moving, when are we starting.

“There are issues, one is the host country agreement, the second is the headquarters preparing it and the third really is to make up the difference between what Nigeria pledged and what Nigeria has paid so far,” he added.

The Federal Government has approved a 50% electricity subsidy for public hospitals across Nigeria. This decision aims to reduce operational costs and ultimately alleviate the financial strain on patients.

Tunji Alausa, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, announced the subsidy during a visit to the National Neo-Psychiatric Hospital in Barnawa, Kaduna, as reported by Daily Trust. He emphasized that this initiative is part of the government’s broader efforts to improve healthcare delivery in the country.

The subsidy comes in response to the increasing overhead costs faced by hospitals, with energy expenses accounting for more than 40% of these costs, according to the Association of Nigeria Private Medical Practitioners (ANPMP).

Rising electricity tariffs, particularly for those in Band A, and the soaring cost of diesel have further exacerbated the financial challenges faced by these institutions.

Hospital administrators have voiced concerns over the escalating energy costs, which have significantly contributed to higher operating expenses. This cost is often passed on to patients in form higher medical bills.

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has clarified that electricity consumers who get free prepaid meters will have up to 10 years to repay the cost.

Adelabu’s statement contradicts claims that customers who pay for meters would be refunded through energy credit.

Speaking recently in Ibadan, the minister, who acknowledged that the cost of meters had been on the increase, said funding was a major challenge.

According to Adelabu, the Federal Government would fund the meter procurement through different initiatives while the customers pay back over time.

“We can get funding for this meter and allow the customers to pay over time.

“When the government starts procuring meters, we’ll give it to the customers, and we’ll deduct the money over 10 years. In which case, you will not even feel it at all,” he stated.

He explained further that a customer who bought an energy credit of N5,000 might have N100 deducted for the ‘free’ meter he got from the government.

“Probably, if you buy a credit of N5,000, maybe N100 will go into the meter that we have given you. So, that’s what we are trying to do. We bring these meters in and reduce the gap that we have in the meters,” he posited.

Adelabu maintained that the Federal Government and the states had raised N100bn for the procurement of prepaid electricity meters.

He explained, “Mr President has set up what we call the Presidential Meter Initiative and set up a Presidential Meeting Council to address this issue. He made me the chairman of this council. The SA on Energy to Mr President is the secretary of the council. The mandate we have was to procure and install a minimum of 2 million meters on a yearly basis over the next five years.

“In the PMI, we have made good progress in sourcing the fund for this, and it is going to be by a combination of the federal and state governments. Today, we have received, and seen about N100bn fund that will go into the procurement of meters.”

He added that the World Bank decided to support Nigeria with the procurement of almost two million meters in the next two years through the distribution sector recovery programme.

He disclosed that $200m out of the $500m DISREP fund would be used for meter procurement, saying that had reached an advanced stage.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has issued permits to Golden Penny Power Limited, MTN Communications Nigeria Limited, Havenhill Synergy, and others for mini-grid electricity generation.

The NERC said it issued nine new off-grid generation licences in the first quarter of 2024 with a gross capacity of 109.69 megawatts and three new trading licences.

According to a report by the commission, Golden Penny Power Limited got a licence to build six off-grid gas plants in Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, and Cross River states. The total capacity is 100MW.

Also, MTN was granted a permit to build four captive generation plants across Lagos State with 15.94MW capacity.

Aside from MTN, SweetCo Foods Limited, African Steel Mills Nigeria Limited, West African Ceramics Limited, Royal Engineered Stones Limited, and Armilo Plastics Limited were permitted to generate captive power.

“Captive power generation permits are issued to entities that aim to own and maintain power plants for generating power for consumption and not for sale to a third party. The commission issued nine captive power generation permits in 2024/Q1 with a total nameplate capacity of 52.57MW.

Our correspondent gathered that other licensed companies for mini-grids are Daybreak Power Solutions, TIS Renewable Energy Limited, Auro Nigeria Private Limited, Watts Exchange Limited, Centum Dopemu Energy Services Ltd, DMD Electric Limited Lagos State.

Section 165(1)(m) of the Electricity Act 2023 permits the commission to award licence of mini-grid concessions to renewable energy companies to exclusively serve a specific geographical location indicating aggregate electricity to be generated and distributed from a site with the obligation to serve customers to request service.

Under this, the commission said it has continued to encourage the development and utilisation of renewable energy by issuing permits and registration certificates for mini-grid development.

A permit is issued to a mini-grid developer for the construction, operation, maintenance, and where applicable ownership of mini-grids with distribution capacity above 100 kilowatts and generation capacity up to 1MW.

The commission disclosed that it issues registration certificates to a mini-grid developer for one or more systems with distribution capacity below 100kW.

“Following the satisfactory evaluation of mini-grid applications, the commission issued three mini-grid permits and two registration certificates in 2024/Q1,” the NERC stated.

During the period under review, NERC stated that it certified six Meter Service Providers, including four meter installers and two meter manufacturers.

A Meter Service Provider is an entity certified by the commission as a manufacturer, supplier, vendor, or installer of electric energy meters and/or metering systems.

A Meter Asset Provider is an entity that is granted a permit by the commission to provide metering services with roles that may include meter financing, procurement, supply, installation, maintenance, and replacement.

The certified meter service providers are Genobet Limited (installer), Mojec Meter Asset Management (installer), Epagad International Services Limited (installer), Abdulrahman Ahmadu Zubairu (installer), Smart Meters Company Limited (manufacturer), and Crestflow Energy Limited (manufacturer).

The commission also said it issued one regulation and 36 new Orders in 2024/Q1. They include NERC–R–001–2024 — Eligible Customer Regulations, 2024; NERC/2023/023—NERC/2023/033 — Multi-Year Tariff Order 2024 for the Distribution Companies; and NERC/2023/034 — MYTO 2024 for the Transmission Company of Nigeria Plc.

Other are NERC/2023/035 — Order on Performance Improvement Plan of the Transmission Company of Nigeria; NERC/2024/001 — Order on the Regulatory Intervention in Kaduna Electricity Distribution Plc; NERC/2024/004 – NERC/2024/014 — Order on Noncompliance with Capping of Estimated Bill by DisCos for the period January – September 2023; and NERC/2024/016 – NERC/2024/036 — February 2024 Supplementary Order to the Multi-Year Tariff Order for the Discos.

During the quarter, the commission issued 36 orders to guide the activities of licensees.