23 May 2013, Abuja – Minister of State for Power, Hajia Zainab Kuchi, has given a re-assurance that the Federal Government would achieve its dream of pushing up the level of power generation from the present 4,500 megawatts, mw, to 10,000mw by December this year.
The minister gave this assurance, Wednesday, when she appeared before the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy.
She told the committee, with Senator Phillip Adudua, as chairman, that activities were on towards the realisation of various projects that will deliver the 10,000mw before the end of the year.
Kuchi, who maintained that the federal government had completed the process of privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, stated that about N347 billion was required to achieve increased power transmission.
According to her also, the PHCN generating and transmission companies being privatised was yet to be handed over to their prospective buyers because the Power Ministry was determined to ensure that they were in good shape before handover.
Specifically, she said, the handover was being delayed by lack of fund as the Ministry had been running on zero allocation.
Since the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Power had been running on N5 billion, being the remnant of its 2012 allocation, she said.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Senator Philip Aduda, said Nigerians were running out of patience concerning power generation and supply, stressing that they were no longer ready to accept excuses.
