Cross River State is to benefit from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, (UNIDO), assisted 8.2 billion Naira Hydro Electricity Project to be constructed at the Obudu Ranch Resort.
UNIDO Regional Director and Representative to the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, Jean Bakole, made this known in Calabar, at a capacity building workshop on small hydropower for renewable energy development.
Also Read: Obudu Ranch: Governor Ayade to transform host communities with social housing scheme.
Bakole said the Nigeria’s energy crisis is surmountable with renewable energy resources, such as hydropower, solar, biomass and wind.
He identified energy as a critical input for economic growth and sustainable industrial development of any nation.
He asserted that Cross River’s three point five megawatt project in Obudu will be completed before 2023.
Declaring the workshop open , Governor Ben Ayade, joined by his Commissioner for International Development Cooperation, challenged Nigerian Engineers to rise to the occasion and undertake such simple engineering tasks, as building dams, which the Chinese construct with ease.
Electricity access in Nigeria, according to Unido, is still less than 60 percent, resulting in a significant gap between demand and supply, prompting UNIDO, in conjunction with Global Environmental Facility, GEF, and the Nigerian government, to launch the “Scaling Up Small Hydropower (SHP)” project in 2015.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
