Nigeria offers to sell power plant to Chinese firm

(Reuters) - Nigeria has offered to sell a major power station to the Chinese engineering firm that has upgraded the plant, the privatisation agency said, as it aims to end power shortages that are the biggest brake on economic growth.

Africa's most populous nation is privatising the bulk of its power sector to help increase electricity output by 10 times by 2020, although President Goodluck Jonathan's plan laid out three years ago is running behind schedule.

State-owned China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) completed the second phase of the Omotosho power plant in southwest Nigeria last month, taking total output from 375 megawatts (MW) to 500 MW. This represents more than 10 percent of the West African country's total capacity.