It is hypocritical to block us from using coal-fired power – Adeosun tells western government

Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun yesterday described as hypocritical efforts by the western government to stop Nigeria from using coal-fired power to power their industries when infact it is the same coal-fired power system that has helped countries like Britain achieve the kind of industrialization it has now.

Speaking at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) discourse on infrastructure in Africa ‎at the George Washington University USA, Adeosun frowned at the recent blockage of a coal project to Nigeria by some Western powers.

“The case, if you look at the numbers of business cases in Africa, is quite a huge one. Yes, we do need macroeconomic stability.

We also do need consistency of policies by the multilateral institutions and western countries. Let me give you an example. In Nigeria, we have coal and it doesn’t take a genius to work out what it will take to get coal-fired power. Yet, we are being blocked. I think there is some hypocrisy in that.

We have an entire western industrialization that was built on coal-fired energy and that is the competitive advantage that has been used to develop Britain, where I grew up. Now, Africa wants to do it and they saying it’s not green, we can’t do and that we should go and do solar, wind, which are the most expensive power projects. The West cannot say that after polluting the atmosphere for 100 years, and when Africa wants to explore its resources, they say no.

If we want to stop coal, those who started it over 200 years ago, should first stop using coal before telling us to stop”‎ she said

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