Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, has said that the Federal Government is planning to increase the nation’s power generation from 4000 megawatts to 6000 megawatts by the end of this year.
Adelabu, who gave this hint on Monday when the members of the Senate Committee on Power visited his ministry, said that the plans to achieve the 6000 megawatts of power would be achieved through investments in hydro and solar plants.
He described as unfortunate a situation in which the highest electricity currently being generated by the country stood at only 5800 megawatts.
Adelabu pointed out that “the infrastructure are lying there, without adequate maintenance, the turbines are rusting away” adding that “with proper investment put in place, we can generate 6000 megawatts before the end of 2024.”.
The minister also spoke on plans by the government to transform the electricity Distribution Companies, (DisCos) adding that if they don’t perform, it means the entire power sector is not performing.
He further clarified: “We are putting pressure on the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to ensure that the DisCos sit up and if they have to withdraw their licenses for not performing, why not?
“We are unbundling the DisCos along state lines as some of them are too big for efficiency and effectiveness.
“Some of them are serving so many states, so we are rearranging and restricting the DisCos along state lines, so that each state government will know the distribution company responsible for their states”, Adelabu added.
He maintained that it was time that the federal and state governments started exercising their rights in the management and operations of the power sector.
He said: “We have left it for the private sector for too long and they have messed it up. We also plan to franchise the DisCos so that we can have smaller DisCos that are ready to invest.”
Earlier in his remarks, Chairman of the Committee on Power, Sen. Eyinnaya Abaribe, said the members were in the ministry as part of the committee’s oversight function.
According to him, the oversight visit aims to find out the challenges causing poor supply of electricity, including the consistent collapses of the national grid.
He said the committee, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the National Assembly, had already invited the ministry of power and its parastatals for an investigative hearing on the increase in tariff by April 29.
Abaribe explained that the investigative hearing was scheduled in respect of payment for power by Nigerians, and that “the committee has already invited the minister and his agencies to discuss the issue of increase in tariff extensively with the committee.”
