DUE to lack of enough capacity by Distribution Companies (DisCos) to evacuate electricity produced, about 2,000mw is lying idle, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has said.
Briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Wednesday, he revealed that the council has approved a memo from his ministry providing a framework of investment on 33KVAand 11KVA lines to expand the national distribution network.
When completed, it will be able to carry to consumers additional 2000mw of electricity out of the 7,000mw that he said is being currently produced.
He said the 2,000mw “which is currently not getting to the grid, will get to the grid and then to consumers.”
Fashola added: “Nigeria today has 2,000mw of electricity that cannot reach consumers because of lack of distribution capacity.”
“The reason it is not getting to the grid is that those networks are not sufficient to support more than 5,000mw. So, investments have to come in.”
He said the federal government which currently has 40 percent ownership of the DisCos and the private sector with 60 percent, would be compelled to make additional investments “which they were supposed to have made.”
The minister explained: “The federal government will put its own 40% and ask the DisCos to put their own 60% and other parties who are interested will have the opportunity to improve the investments.
“This is just to accelerate action to ensure that the 2000mw that is available now gets to the grid and gets to the people because power is coming.
“We are expecting many more power plants to complete this year which will add almost 1,600mw to the grid.
“So, we can’t continue to accumulate power that doesn’t get to the people. So, this framework is to start the process.”
On his part, Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said the council also approved a memo to upgrade the nation’s flight safety laboratory which is used for accident investigation purposes.
He recalled that the laboratory was first established in 2012 but it became obsolete because the laboratory used tape-based flight recorders.
Sirika explained: “Nigeria like other places recorded plane crash in the case of Dana where extreme temperatures damaged the recorders because they are tape based.
“So we are upgrading it to something that is more permanent and can stand high temperatures. These are international requirements. The amount is N656 million.”
The Minister of Water Resources, Suliaman Adamu, also said that the council approved a memo for the rehabilitation of water supply scheme in Kazaure in Jigawa State at the cost of N3.78 billion to CGC Nigeria Limited.