Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo
The federal government Wednesday assured Nigerians that despite the
challenges in the power sector, it was still hopeful of ramping up
on-grid electricity generation and distribution capacity to 5,000
megawatts (MW) within the year.
The assurance came just as it denied that the recent drop of over 1,112mw of electricity was occasioned by system failure.
Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, described as false, reports that
system collapse recorded in the transmission network was responsible
for the sharp drop in power generation and distribution across the
country from the all-time high of about 4,500mw to about 3,300mw.
Nebo explained that the 1,112mw drop in supply was occasioned by a
shutdown in gas supplied to the Egbin, Omotosho and Olorunsogo thermal
power plants from Chevron gas plant, which was closed down for routine
maintenance.
He said the ministry and all its agencies were informed of the
scheduled shutdown in gas supply from the Chevron plant, adding that
maximum power generation and distribution from these plants were
gradually normalising.
He said: “I think we need to let Nigerians know about the situation in
the power sector so that wrong information is not peddled by rumour
mongers about the drop in power supply across the nation.
“The drop of about 1,112 megawatts which was lost from Egbin, Omotosho
and Olorunsogo were as a result of the shutdown of Chevron gas plant for
scheduled maintenance; as a result of the maintenance work, the power
plants were forced to shut down because there were no gas supplies to
them.
“Our technical crew knew about this shutdown before it happened and
it was not an issue of system failure; we certainly cannot call this
system failure because once there is a problem in the system, it is
mandated that you must shut down completely to avoid unnecessary damage
to power equipment.
“Inasmuch as we agree that our system is not entirely perfect and we
are working hard to improve them, we want to inform Nigerians that there
is a gradual increase in capacity generation; capacity availability is
gradually been stabilised and we are currently at 3,300 megawatts, by
tomorrow, we will have 4,000mw.”
The minister also added that government’s plan to generate 5,000mw this
year was on course, adding: “When we are done with our plans and with
our expectations from ongoing projects, we hope to surpass that figure
within the year.”
He said negotiation with labour unions in the power sector as regards
the privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was
going on smoothly, adding that payment of severance benefits to workers
of the utility would soon begin.
“We have reached substantial agreements with members of labour union
and very soon, we would have paid their benefits because we have had
meetings almost every day to ensure that problem of labour is solved
before the eventual takeover of the PHCN assets by preferred bidders,”
Nebo added.
The Presidential Task Force on Power (PTFP) had recently alerted of an
imminent drop in nationwide power supply by 800mw which it said would
last for three days.
PTFP indicated then that the scheduled gas outage at the
Chevron-operated Escravos gas plant located in Delta State would be
collectively coordinated with Chevron, the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) and its gas transportation arm, Nigerian Gas Company
(NGC/NNPC) as well as the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to make
sure that the three-day outage would be executed with minimal disruption
to electricity supply nationwide.
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