Why power supply has increased in over 2 years ―Fashola

THE Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola on Thursday, insisted that Nigerians now enjoy better power supply compared to 2015.

He said this is because in over two years and since the privatisation of power assets, there has been increasing in both generation, transmission and distribution capacities.

Fashola stated this in Abuja at the inauguration of the new Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission( NERC) Chairman, Professor James Momoh at the Ministry’s headquarters.

He noted that although the experience may not be evenly spread, the increase in generation, transmission and distribution was a clear progress.

The Minister, however, noted that despite the improvements more still needs to be done to boost power supply to all Nigerians.

He said:“What matters now is what people are experiencing. Between 2015 and now, many of them will tell you that their experience is better, they will tell that they have power for longer hours compared to before.

“They will tell you that they are buying less diesel and they will also tell you in some places that the experience is not good. That means there is still a lot of work to be done. Without a doubt, by increasing generation to 7,000mws, increasing transmission to over 7,000mws and increase in distribution from 2,690 to about 5,000mws is clearly a progress and that is why we must do more.”

In line with this, he disclosed that the 459 megawatts Azura power plant in Edo State has been completed and would soon commence full operations.

Also, he said another 240 MWs and 215 MWs of power is expected from Afam and Kaduna power plants, all to be added to the grid

“We have new power coming, Azura just sent a notice that the power plant has been fully completed and now ready to run full operation that is 459 mws power ready, we are expecting another 240mw from Afam and another 215 mws from Kaduna. There is a lot of power coming,” he said.

In his inaugural speech, the newly appointed NERC Chairman expressed his commitment to ensuring that he delivers on his mandate.

“…I learnt a lesson of patience, prayer, persistence and perseverance and I want to say that I will use that in my work. I believe in hard work and we will work hard to meet the mandate you have given us,” he said.