Abdulfattah Olajide
9 November 2009
Fifty days to the end of the year, the Federal Government has reassured the nation that its target of providing 6,000mega watts of electricity by December this year would still be achieved despite the challenges facing the nation's power projects.
Briefing newsmen yesterday after the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) Steering Council meeting in Abuja, Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State and the Minister of State for Power, Arch. Nuhu Wya, said although only 2,900 megawatts of electricity is currently being distributed, the nation generates not less than 5,000 mega watts.
Suswam said "we are working round the clock to solve the inherent problems concerning power generation. But we assure you that government will deliver on its promise."
He said the power plants at Geregu, Omotosho, and Papalanto were operating far below capacity because of inadequate gas supply, saying when contractors and consultants return to work in the wake of the amnesty deal, substantial improvement would be recorded by year end.
He said "We want to appeal to Nigerians to be patient with the President on the issue of NIPP projects and on the issues of power supply generally. I believe it will be done. Power supply is not something that can be done overnight.
There are issue of gas pipeline. Which all of us know as Nigerians that there were a lot of sabotage. This issues are been fresolve gradually. It is not as if any person perceive that we will have this sabotage from the Niger Delta but this issue has been resolve by the amnesty granted by Mr. President and I believe that the minister of power is working round the clock in order for them to achieve the 6,000mw which the government promised Nigerians."
"From what we learnt, 5,000mw in terms of generation have been achieved, the problem that the ministry is encountering is the evacuation of the power because of transmission issues. Even when you have generation capacity the issue of evacuation has become an issue. And then the issue of gas but they have been able to achieve the 5,000mw from the briefing we took from the power minister.
But what they are transmitting to Nigerians is 2900 but they have been able to achieve 5,000mw as we have been told in council. They are working round the clock to make sure that the issues that relates to transmission are solved so that they would be able to evacuate power and give Nigerians what they promised", he added.
In his contribution, Mr Wya said, "we have enough transmission capacity for 5,000mw. We have an issue and that issue is availability of adequate gas. As I said before, we have a new plant in Geregu that can generate about 400mw. But today, it is not producing because of lack of gas. The same thing applies to Omotosho. But we do not have adequate supply of gas. This is not to be blamed on anybody but the master plan of gas has been scattered by the activities in the Niger Delta. We have been working around the clock in collaboration with NNPC to ensure that all the damages on the pipelines are put right. And we are very, very hopeful that before the end of the December deadline, we would get a lot of these things fitted and Nigerians will enjoy the power as promised."
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