The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has suggested that African countries adopted solar energy as major source of power generation.

Nebo made the call at the Ministerial Consultation on Energy in Africa at the ongoing African Union and Ministers of Economy and Finance Summit in Abuja on Friday.

He said Africa had huge mineral resources such as gas, wind, coal, among others, in abundance for energy development.

He added that natural solar energy, which was in abundance in the region, should not be neglected.

“Solar power can give us 10 times or more to the other resources we already have.

“I don’t believe that solar generated energy is too expensive. In the next couple of years, it will get parity with gas and coal.

“The only problem is with storage. But the flood of solar in the region cannot be stopped’’, he said.

Mr Adama Deen, Head of Infrastructure, NEPAD, said 80 to 90 per cent power supply for industrial purpose may be problematic to achieve.

He said that NEPAD had in its project targeted 60 per cent energy supply on the continent by 2040 and called for capacity building.

Mr Joseph Habineza, Rwandan High Commissioner in Nigeria, said governments needed the political will as they would not be able to finance the projects without private sector involvement.

Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo –Iweala, Chairman of session, called for specific skills to ensure that Africa benefited from the projects.

She said that domestic funding of various countries would not also be sufficient to carry the projects if the region wanted to achieve 80 per cent by 2040.

She advised that sequence of funding must be clearly stated and that focus on vocation and skills should not be neglected.