Small Hydropower in Nigeria

Nigeria is the most populaous black nation in the world. It has an area of 913,072 square kilometres. The country population is about 120 million. There are three major languages, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, although there is still more than 380 dialects in local languages. There are large number of household on the African continent that are unelectrified.In Nigeria about 70 million people remain literally in the dark without access to electricity. The majority of these numbers are in the rural areas. This workshop is apt in a number of ways. It is a joint effort between government, private sector, the academic and other practitioners in small hydro power station, it is also a promotion of business and industrial activities as well as development of renewable energy resources. I wish to commend the organizers of this workshop. The focus of the workshop is relevant to the agenda of the Federal Ministry of Power and Steel and aspirations of the Federal Government of Nigeria to provide regular and steady electricity to majority of Nigerians before the end of year 2001.