TOM MOSES
14 April 2004
Calabar — GOVERNMENT has again reneged on its promise for Nigerians to enjoy uninterrupted power supply. It has now set a new date as October 2005, against October 2002 it had earlier promised.
It also said there was no plan, for now, to ban the importation of power generating sets.
Power and Steel Minister Sen. Liyel Imoke who spoke on the twin issues in a dialogue with newsmen in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, yesterday, added that the Federal Government had already expended over N40 billion on power sector reforms necessary to steady electricity supply.
At the inception of the Obasanjo administration in 1999, the then Power and Steel Minister, the (now),p late Chief Bola Ige (SAN) had assured Nigerians that the government would ensure uninterrupted power supply within six months in power.
When the promise failed, government set a fresh date of October, 2002 and strove to meet the deadline through issuing multi-billion dollar generation and transmission contracts nationwide.
The development apparently again failed to yield the expected fruit.
Sen. Imoke said upon completion of the on-going work on transmission lines, the power generating capacity of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) would stabilize.
He lamented that for 15 years before the emergency of the incumbent administration, no serious repairs were effected on NEPA installations just as no investment and efficiency of the authority was given priority attention.
The minister said that it was for that reason that the refurbishing of NEPA had taken a period longer than earlier expected.
On the reforms being carried out on NEPA, he mentioned the parastatal's privatisation as aspect, stressing that when NEPA is privatised, it will enjoy some level of autonomy as well as be in a strong position to face the challenges to be passed by the possible emergence of private electricity concerns.
Besides, he said, 11 independent business units will be created to make NEPA more efficient, adding that the gas pipeline in Afam Power station has been overhauled to supply the parastatal.
Senator Imoke also disclosed that the capacity of the various stations to generate power has received a boost, to 3200 megawats as against 2,800 in the recent past.
On the current epileptic supply of power, Senator Imoke blamed it on low water level occasioned by the dry season at the Shiroro Gorge dam and assured that the situation will improve with the coming of the rains.
He used the forum to disabuse people's mind on the speculation making the rounds that government will ban the importation of power generating sets because as he said, such policy will be counter-productive especially as NEPA was yet to be put in the appropriate shape.
Rather than ban, Imoke expressed optimism that when the power sector reforms are completed, the services of power generating sets will not be required.
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