(Ecofin Agency) - Nigeria is looking to raise $ 5 billion from the World Bank to be channeled into the power sector in order to boost electricity availability in the country. This came after an official visit by a Nigerian delegation to Washington on April 25, 2017 to discuss possible assistance to the national energy sector, the bank said.

At the end of the meeting, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), an arm of World Bank Group, promised to deploy a set of instruments that will help mobilize investments directly from the private sector and through private sector guarantees, to resolve Nigeria’s energy crisis.

Nigeria at the end of the first quarter of 2017, had an external debt of $ 13.81 billion, of which $ 6.93 billion was contracted with the World Bank, according to the Debt Management Office, (DMO).The Nigerian energy sector is currently experiencing a chronic crisis. Although the country has 12.5 GW of installed generation capacity, it currently produce only about 4, 000MW.

Anita Fatunji