Energy programmes and poverty alleviation is less well articulated in the development literature, while the link between power supply and economic development remains indisputable. This has led to the apparent neglect of the needs of the poor in most energy development programmes to date in Nigeria. Problems regarding poverty in all its dimensions can be addressed with the improved provision of energy services and it is significant that most of those without access to modern energy services live in the remote communities of the Niger Delta States. An underlying objective of many energy sector projects in the Niger Delta States is to give low-income households and rural communities better access to modern fuels-to allow them shift from biomass fuels to kerosene or gas for cooking, to put electric lighting in a school or power a refrigerator in a community health clinic, or to access electricity lighting or to power equipment for household businesses. Interventions of these kinds are expected to have important and direct effects on the welfare of the poor in the urban and rural communities of the Niger Delta States as reflected in this document.
