08 October 2015, Lagos – The Chairman of Board of Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Kola Adesina, has restated the commitment of the board to the transformation and expansion programme on the plant to accelerate the nation’s drive towards sustainable power supply.
Adesina said in a statement last night that the company was on the verge of returning the power station to its installed capacity of 1, 320 megawatts and also to commence plans to double Egbin’s generation capacity.
His assurance is coming amid the crisis between the management and some workers, who accused the former of inviting hoodlums to the company’s housing estate to remove the roofs of the houses of retirees and staff of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
The removal of the roofs had led to alleged sabotage of the plant by one of the affected workers, which resulted to a drop in generation from 1,100 megawatts to zero.
But Adesina, who was speaking on the plant’s post privatisation report and recent developments noted that “significant progress” had been recorded in the power company.
“Our greatest achievement apart from the upgrade we have done on the six units of the plant is the new attitude to work by every member of staff as they have all bought into the dream of delivering sustainable and reliable power to Nigeria by going the extra mile,” he said.
Adesina, whose statement was silent on the crisis, however explained that the recent Amber security alert declared by the management was unavoidable in light of security reports that linking illegal occupants on the facility with plans to disrupt operations and destroy property.
He alleged that the undocumented residents had continued to occupy the plant’s housing estate illegally since the new management took over on November 1, 2013, a development he said was a huge setback to the housing needs and productivity of the company’s bona fide staff.
“Egbin is quite critical to the operations of the power sector as it contributes about 25 per cent of total power generated in the nation. We can report that although the Amber security alert is still in on, the situation is under control and all relevant stakeholders are working towards ensuring hitch-free operations and engendering an enabling environment for meeting the timelines we have in place for completing the unfolding transformation of Egbin Power Plant,” he added.
He enjoined all stakeholders to work together in the national interest for progress to be made in a sustainable manner.
*Ejiofor Alike – Thisday
