31 May 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja – Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has lamented the poor state of the Oji River coal power plant in Enugu, expressing displeasure that most of its operating parts had been dismantled.
He spoke at the memorandum of understanding, MoU, signing ceremony for a $9 million per year Power Africa Energy Distribution Initiative, PAEDI, between the ministry and the United States government.
The minister, who was represented by the special adviser to the minister on policy and legal matters, Mr. Olanrewaju Akinsola, lamented that some persons had attempted to turn a potential source of growth, development, and shared prosperity into a source of risk, poverty, and pollution.
“My recent visit to Oji River coal power plant in Enugu, which used to supply most, if not all, of Eastern Nigeria, showed that not only is the power plant no longer in use, most of its operating parts had been dismantled,” Fashola said.
He noted that at a time when the world is in serious pursuit of clean energy to mitigate the impact of climate change and global warming, gas fired plants provide a useful source of quick, large capacity electricity plants which can take the nation faster to its roadmap of incremental power.
In Nigeria, however, incessant vandalism of gas pipelines has persistently cut gas supply to the gas fired plants, rendering the plants inoperative and ensuring poor power generation and supply to homes and industries.