23 April 2013, Lagos – The National Integrated Power Project, NIPP, is to add 4,200 megawatts, mw, of the total 9,000mw expected in the national power grid by December this year, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, NDPHC, has said.
Mr. James Olotu, managing director of NDPHC, which is executing the NIPP on behalf of the nation, disclosed this during the commissioning of power distribution centres in Lagos.
“By December, out of the expected 9,000MW which will be available, NIPP will be contributing about 4,200MW of that or 50 percent of the entire capacity of power available in Nigeria in December,” he said, stressing the commitment of the organisation in delivering on its mandate of ensuring uninterrupted power supply to Nigerians.
He added: “We cannot rest on our oars. The reason is that we have gaps that have been created over the years. The gaps have been so wide and we are just playing catch up.
“We need to catch up quickly and begin to expand. Look at South Africa, it has about 48,000 megawatts. Their population is about 38 million. The country also has about 8,000 megawatts in reserve.
“Here in Nigeria, we don’t have up to what South Africa has in their reserve and they are continuously building capacity”.
Olotu, who also spoke on the recent disruption in gas supply to power stations, said it was due to gas producers shutting down their facilities for maintenance, resulting in a drop in the gas supply.
According to him, this had been resolved while the contractors handling the gas infrastructure at Egbema, Omoku and Gbaran had assured that the projects would be delivered by August this year.
Olotu also argued that going by the level of work being done by his company, more projects would be commissioned in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria.
“As you can see, we have commissioned five projects. This one in Isolo is the biggest of all the projects in Lagos generally. If we leave here, if the way is clement, we will still be commissioning one or two projects. We will be commissioning some more projects.
“We will be going to the biggest injection transmission sub-station in Nigeria, at Oke Aro, a few kilometers from Lagos. It has 2×300 and 2×60 MVA transformers in that location. That is very big indeed. And it is the first one in Nigeria.
“It was done by NDPHC and it is in line with Mr. President’s transformation agenda. We hope that when we leave Lagos, we go to Kaduna, because we have about four projects ready for commissioning. In Kano, we have another four projects for commissioning. Then we will go back to the East. Two weeks ago, we were in the East, where we commissioned seven projects. Every month, it is going to be a harvest,” he further stated.
