Nigeria’s Azura-Edo gas power project reaches financial close

Nigeria’s power sector had a year to forget in 2015 as the momentum that had started to build in the private sector was checked first by the political situation and then by the fall in oil prices, the currency crisis and the reorganisation of government finances. However, progress at the $900m, 450MW Azura-Edo power project – the first independent power producer (IPP) to be project financed in the post-privatisation regime – coupled with a renewed focus on gas supply by power, works and housing minister Babatunde Fashola and an accompanying $2 increase in the domestic gas price to $3.30/mBtu have brightened the prospects for the sector.