The Federal Government has stated that Nigeria’s electricity generation has risen to 4,800 megawatts up from around 3500 in March.
While celebrating the rise, the Government has accused some “cartels and cabals” as responsible for challenges the country is facing in the power sector.
The Government stated that these elements did not want the power sector to function because of their selfish business interests.
This was contained in a statement by the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu. The Minister disclosed this on Thursday when he was in Ajah, Lagos State to launch a 63MVA, 132/33kV mobile substation.
The substation was installed under Phase 1 of the Presidential Power Initiative by the FGN Power Company in collaboration with Siemens Energy.
Speaking at the event, Adelabu disclosed that the power generation increased from 4,200MW in the past few days. He said this is following the operation of the Zungeru hydroelectric power plant.
The PUNCH reports that the Zungeru power plant is a major infrastructure project with the capacity to generate 700MW. The facility, therefore, is the second-largest hydroelectric plant in Nigeria, behind the Kainji Dam.
The plant which is located in the Kaduna River, near the town of Zungeru in Niger State, generates 2.64 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. It meets nearly 10 per cent of Nigeria’s domestic energy needs, according to The PUNCH.
According to Adelabu, “Let me mention that we have started seeing improvements in our generation output. In the past few days, the output has increased from 4,200MW to 4,800MW. What we experienced in February and some parts of March is not desirable when we had very low generation.
“I just came back from a meeting this morning. We discussed how to make efforts to pay down our debts to the GenCos and the gas companies.
“We have made significant progress, which I believe will encourage generating companies to ramp up their outputs. This is because we are targeting 6,000MW before the end of the year.
“What led to the increase in the past few days was the commencement of the operation of Zungeru hydroelectric power plant. The plant just added 625MW to the national grid,” he said.
The Power Minister also spoke on the activities of cartels that are affecting power growth in the country. He, therefore, warned them to stop being shortsighted, saying there are enough opportunities in the sector.
“I know that there are cartels and there are cabals in this sector. And they think their business interest will be negatively affected if we have stable electricity. But they are just being myopic, they’re being shortsighted. There are lots of opportunities available in the sector. And these will compensate for whatever business loss that they think they are experiencing in their current business. So, it is a win-win.
“I don’t think stabilizing the power sector will render anybody jobless or affect the business interest of anybody. It is a matter of you determining where to be because the business moves. The business world is dynamic. A business that is profitable today may not be profitable tomorrow.
“When you see the trend of business moving, you just click into the value chain and it is so huge for everybody. Such that if local investors are not interested, there are foreign investors interested in this sector,” Adelabu added.
source: PUNCH
