Politics

FG vows to generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity by December

The Federal Government has promised to generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity by December 2024 as part of efforts to boost power supply in the country.

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, stated this during the Ministerial Sectoral Briefing which is part of activities marking the first anniversary of President Bola Tinubu’s government. Adelabu said the mandate of the Ministry is to engender national development by developing and implementing policies to achieve and sustain adequate and reliable power supply for the nation.

He said compared to what happened in the past administration, Tinubu’s government, he said, has provided the impetus for a complete change in the power sector landscape in Nigeria as well as leveraging and harnessed the power sector to achieve economic growth and industrialisation to power industries to facilitate manufacturing processes and drive general economic development.

He added that the 2023 Electricity Act signed in June last year by President Tinubu has given room for decentralisation and liberalisation of power sector where states such as Enugu, Ondo, and Ekiti are already taking giant strides in the electricity value chain.

“Our target is to achieve 6,000 megawatts before the end of this year and for the first time in the history of Nigeria, it will happen. We have improved grid generation capacity with the addition of 700 megawatts Zungeru and we are proposing the inclusion of 3,000 Utility Scale Solar Power Source within the next 24 months to actually change the mix of our energy generation that is also for the first time in Nigeria. All we have today is hydropower and gas power. We want to introduce renewable energy in relation to our energy transition plan.

“We all know the state of the sector we inherited on resumption of this administration. We all know that the sector was in highly degenerated condition before this administration came in and the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu provided the impetus for a complete change in the power sector landscape in Nigeria. Of importance to this Agenda is for Nigeria to leverage and harness the power sector to achieve economic growth and industrialisation to power industries, facilitate manufacturing processes, and drive general economic development.

“The Electricity Act 2023 (signed in June 2023) has allowed decentralisation and liberalisation of this sector whereby not only Federal Government alone play in the sector but sub-national government like states and local government can also play in all the segments of power sector value chain – generation, transmission, and distribution. This is taking power to the grassroots.

“Let me say that 5,000 megawatts of power was achieved in May (2024) for the first time in three years. On exactly 3rd of May 2024, we generated, transmitted, and distributed 5,003.45 megawatts of power while we have been generating below 4,000 megawatts. We all know what we passed through in February and March but we rose to the occasion and made sure we changed the situation for the better.

“Our mandate at the Ministry of Power is to engender national development by developing and implementing policies to achieve and sustain adequate and reliable power supply for the nation and to generally coordinate the activities of the private and public sector operators of the electricity industry. So, beyond policy formulation and implementation, we provide general oversight to ensure that industry can deliver on its mandate. We have the Ministry as the policy formulator.”

The minister also revealed that Federal Government is working on seven million meter gaps to provide prepaid meters for Nigerians who do not have access to it. He said there are plans to bridge the gap by providing 10 million meters in the next five years at two million per year to put an end to estimated billing.

He also appealed to Nigerians to bear with the government on the recent tariff increment saying it is a temporary hardship that will eventually gain for all as was witnessed in the telecom sector some years back.

ALSO READ THESE TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE