*Says many Nigerians now have “longer” public power
OpeOluwani Akintayo
18 November 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Minister for power, works, and housing, Babatunde Fashola has said that Nigeria’s power sector grew by 7.5 percent since the beginning of the Mohammadu Buhari’s administration.
He disclosed this in a statement while delivering a progress report on activities of his ministry last week.
The minister quoted the figure as a reference to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS’ report for the second quarter, 2018.
“The evidence of our progress is not only captured in the last quarter of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Report for Q2 of 2018 which shows a growth of 7.5 percent in the electricity sector”, the Minister said adding that previous quarterly reports from 2017 had consistently recorded growth, which, he noted “is a clear departure from 2014-2015 and proof of change”.
Recalling that he promised in his inaugural address that it would not just be electricity by numbers but electricity that would be borne out by personal experiences, Fashola disclosed that the report of survey carried out by government and feedback mechanism put in place by it, had confirmed that many Nigerians now have public power for longer hours compared to 2015 and run generators for shorter periods compared to 2015 while they now spend less money on diesel to power their generators.
“As some citizens recently reported, they no longer have to iron all their clothes one week in advance as they previously used to do, because the supply is proving reliable and predictable even if not yet fully Stable and uninterrupted. This is progress that we must move forward by consolidating on our mandate of change. We cannot go back”, the minister declared.
He said as the policies on Mini Grids, Meter Asset Provider, Eligible Customer, and liquidity sustenance and improved governance deepen, the experience with power supply could only get better adding, however, that the success of the plans now would depend on “energy users who must conserve energy when not needed”.
With regard to power, Fashola asserted that generation, which was at 4,000 MW in when he took over in the Ministry in 2015 has increased to 7,000 MW and transmission from 5,000 MW in 2015 to 7,000 MW while distribution has increased from 2,690 MW to 5,222 MW adding that although the work was clearly not finished, the Ministry was still in the process of delivering additional power to the grid.
According to him, the additional 215MW would come from the Kaduna Power Plant while 240MW would come from Afam IV, 40 MW from Kashimbila, 30 MW from Gurara, 29 MW from Dadin Kowa and a total of 3,750 MW from two big Hydropower plants in Zungeru (700MW) and Mambilla (3,050MW) while power is also programmed for nine universities and 15 markets across the country.
Also expected are transmission expansion from 90 transmission projects nationwide to boost the capacities of the Distribution Companies to distribute power across the country, the Minister said adding that some of the transmission substations recently completed included Apo, Mayo Belwa, Damaturu, Maiduguri, Odogunyan and Ejigbo substations.
According to him, while distribution is being boosted through over 100 injection sub-stations, a distribution expansion programme to be funded by the Federal Government was now in an advanced state of procurement adding that although there are still people yet to be reached and challenges due to disruptions from time to time and people who also needed meters “it is indisputable that we have delivered on incremental power”.