*Managing Director, NDPHC, Chiedu Ugbo
*Projects 7000MW power supply
OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The Federal Government has budgeted a total of N198.28bn to be invested on various power projects in 2021.
Managing Director, Niger Delta Power Holding Company, Chiedu Ugbo who hinted that the power project fund is contained in the 2021 national budget currently with the National Assembly, said the fund would be spread across the different arms of the sector.
According to him, the Federal Ministry of Power will make the largest investment of N173.78bn.
National rural electrification will invest a total of N17.86bn in rural communities, while the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission plans to invest N294.1m.
Projects under the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency will gulp N441.1m, as those under the Transmission Company of Nigeria would cost N4.69bn.
Those outlined by the Nigeria Electricity Liability Management Limited is N914.87m, while the National Power Training Institute targets to invest N294.1m.
The total overhead for the entire ministry and its agencies was N1.16bn, while N4.9bn has been budgeted for personnel in the power ministry and its agencies.
While Nigeria currently supplies between 4,000 megawatts and 5,000MW, Mr Ugbo said the projects would in turn boost supply to 7,000MW next year.
Ugbo said, “The government has been able to secure the Siemens deal through the Presidential Power Initiative.
“Out of the 13,000MW installed capacity in Nigeria, 8,000MW is available and ready to run but we are doing less than 5,000MW today.”
He added, “So what Siemens has come to do through the project is to help clean up the networks. Clean up transmission and the argument between transmission and distribution companies will be eliminated.”
“So in the next one year or there about, we will be able to get at least 7,000MW of that taken up and served to Nigerians,” Ugbo stated.
