Abuja —  President Goodluck Jonathan has  projected that domestic power generation would rise to about 20,000 megawatts in the next four years.

Jonathan gave the projection at a meeting with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Chief Executive Officer of  JP Morgan Bank of the US, Mr. Jamie Dimon, at the State House, Abuja.

The president said if his administration’s plans for the power sector were fully implemented, Nigeria should be generating enough power by April 2011.

He said by the end of 2014, there would be adequate electricity for the needs of large manufacturing industries some of which currently generate their own power.

The president said that the Federal Government was also tackling challenges in the area of power transmission.

He said government would expedite action on the construction of a new National Power Transmission Super-Grid to replace the existing grid which could no longer meet the nation’s power transmission needs.

Jonathan said Nigeria would welcome support from international finance organisations and global banks such as JP Morgan through long-term financing for the super-grid project.

The president also briefed Blair and Dimon on his administration’s efforts to boost agricultural production in the country through  commercial farming.

He also briefed them on the measures being taken to sustain peace in the Niger Delta.
Blair, in his remarks,  said there was a huge amount of goodwill in the international community toward supporting the efforts to achieve rapid socio-economic development in Nigeria.

He said the decision by JP Morgan, one of the world’s largest banks, to  upgrade its representative office in Nigeria to a full-scale branch was a vote of confidence in Nigeria and the Jonathan administration.

Jonathan on Wednesday also received the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Mr.  Sergey Lavrov.

Lavrov’s visit was to  follow up on  the implementation of bilateral agreements signed during President Dmitry Medvedev’s official visit to Nigeria last year.

Jonathan assured the minister that his administration would do all it could to facilitate the implementation of  the agreements.

He also assured him that his administration would expand the  areas of economic cooperation between Nigeria and the Russian Federation.

Lavrov told the president that Russia was very keen on enriching its relations with Nigeria through large scale economic projects.