Federal Executive Council Approves 16 Power Contracts Presented by Minister
- The Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by VP Osinbajo on Thursday, December 23 approved 16 memos on power
- The memos were presented to the council by the minister of power, Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu who said President Buhari is committed to ending epileptic power supply
- The minister also stated that power generation in the country at the moment is about 5,000 megawatts
Aso Rock - The minister of power, Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu on Thursday, December 23 blamed the epileptic power supply in the country on the lack of attention paid to the development of the sector in the past.
The minister made the comment after the extraordinary Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo approved all 16 memos on power presented by his office.
Source: Facebook
He said the present administration has done more than any other to ensure that Nigerians enjoy an improved supply of electricity.
Engr Aliyu said contrary to the impression that nothing was being done to tackle epileptic power supply, the government was doing a lot to remedy the situation with more investments in the sector which he said had manifested in the less system collapsed being witnessed in the country.
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While noting that the federal government has placed an order for power equipment, the minister assured that Nigerians will soon see the outcome of the ongoing investments.
Aliyu maintained that the present power generation in the country is about 5,000mw as he decried what he termed the weak transmission grid.
Speaking on the memo, Aliyu stated:
“Today, I presented to council 16 memos, which I seek for council's approval and the council graciously approved all of them. At this point, let me say what these approvals will do to the nation’s electricity supply.
“As we're all aware, the major problem we're having in the electricity supply industry is to be able to evacuate sufficient electricity and distribute them. That is to say, we have a very weak transmission grid and distribution segment of the value chain.
“We may not be having many problems with generation. So, unless we're able to strengthen the electricity grid, which is nationwide, and to expand, and to be able to evacuate, what the grid can take to consumers, we will have a lot of problems ahead of us.
“So, what we're doing currently through various and several interventions is to be able to repair the grid by constructing new transmission lines, bringing in new equipment to replace the old ones at our substations. So, that will release more capacity to the distribution and leading to the customers.
“So, the operational capacity, as you all know now is hovering around 5,000 megawatts and the transmission and distribution.
“So, these projects that we brought to council today and got approvals are all geared towards strengthening the willing capacity of the transmission and towards distribution, even though as you all know, the distribution segment of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) is been privatized, but we cannot fold our arms and allow them to continue not to do much in order to evacuate what the transmission can bring.
“But as it is now, even the transmission is not that strong. So, we need to put more investment into the transmission so that we can improve the willing capacity of the TCN to be able to take up enough electricity from the generation.”
Engr Aliyu speaks on FG's plans at power sector public hearing
Recall that the minister had earlier said the Buhari’s administration is with urgency, fast-tracking the delivery of adequate electricity to Nigerians.
He also added that the government is fully committed to rejigging the NESI.
He stated this in Abuja on Tuesday, December 14 while presenting the position of the ministry of power, at a public hearing on four bills in the power sector, including the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (Amendment) Bill, organised by the House committee on power.
Engr. Aliyu says he can't perform magic in power industry
On resumption, Engr. Aliyu had declared that he is not a magician as he is in the electricity sector to add value to what is being done.
Sale Mamman, who previously occupied the position was relieved of his duties by President Buhari on Wednesday, September 1.
Aliyu who made the disclosure while resuming his official duties in Abuja, noted that citizens should not expect magic in the provision of adequate power supply.
Source: Legit.ng
