Vincent Ujumadu
21 May 2012, Sweetcrude, AWKA—VICE-Chairman of Nigeria’s Senate Committee on Power, Dr. Chris Ngige, has expressed optimism that power generation in the country would increase by about 50% by December this year.
Ngige, who is representing Anambra Central in the Senate, said the problem militating against increased power supply in the country over the years was generation, adding that with the efforts being made to increase power generation at present, the problem would soon be over.
The senator observed that with Independent Power Projects, IPP, springing up in some states, there is hope that things would be better in the near future, adding that the IPPs should be put into the national grid to supplement the generation efforts of the Ministry of Power.
He, however, observed that another problem that could trail the industry is distribution and transmission, which, he noted, made it imperative for total overhaul of the existing transmission lines that had become obsolete.
According to him, most of the lines across the country can no longer carry the load from the distribution points and unless they are changed, the problem would continue to occur.
He assured that the senate would continue to monitor the development in the sector and be alive to its oversight function to ensure that the efforts by government were not slowed down.
